


Please Please Me

by Babygirl_Francesca



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Drug Use, Fluff, Light BDSM, M/M, Romance, brat rick, escort Rick
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2019-11-23 13:15:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 33,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18152327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Babygirl_Francesca/pseuds/Babygirl_Francesca
Summary: Rick works as a high class escort for Philip Blake. He meets Negan one day, an average high school teacher, and Rick wonders if maybe he wants to abandon the money and fame of working for Philip, to pursue a relationship with Negan.(this story was accidentally deleted, so this is a repost)





	1. I Saw Her Standing There

**Author's Note:**

> hey ya'll this is fucking wild but I somehow deleted this story while trying to delete a different one and yeah, I fucked up! (will also be putting this note on chapter 5 because that's where I was when I deleted it)

"So you land in Atlanta around five, we'll do dinner at seven. Check into the hotel at ten? Rick? Are you listening?" Maggie snapped her fingers to try and get Rick to stop staring out the window for a moment.

Rick flinched a little bit but eventually turned his attention to Maggie. "You're gonna be with me all night, why do I need to know the schedule?" He asked lazily, crossing one leg over the other and slouching slightly in his seat. He had a tumbler of whiskey in his hand, barely even touched.

"Well if you'd been listening, you would know that I'm going to check out the venue during dinner. So It'll just be you and Daryl. Do you want this copy of the schedule?" She asked, being a little more pointed.

Rick waved his hand in a blasé manner. "Give it to Daryl."

Daryl sat up in his seat a little and leaned over to grab the laminated schedule from Maggie. "And this has limo times on it?" He asked.

"We actually got Jerry, you know, the one from New York? He'll be driving the limo and his number's is at the top. But yeah, times are on there." Maggie explained, leaning across her seat with a capped pen and pointing it out.

"Oh hell yeah, Jerry's cool." Daryl nodded and then slid the schedule into his ridiculous Gucci backpack that Rick had gotten for him over Christmas. Rick really didn't know how to appreciate his friends outside of lavish gift giving. "Rick you remember Jerry? Took us to that taco place?"

"Hm? Oh, uh, yeah. He's cool. Better than that guy in LA." Rick nodded and took another sip of his whiskey.

Rick looked out the window again, noticing that they were getting closer to the ground. He brought the cup up to his lips and finished the rest of his drink quickly. He uncrossed his legs and then crossed them the other way, leaning back in the plush chair. Daryl was next to him, Michonne and Maggie across from him.

He felt cooped up on the jet and wanted to stretch his legs. He could walk over to the fridge, get himself another drink, but he didn't really think he should have anything more to drink.

"Anything else I need to know?" Rick asked, setting his cup to the side and buckling his seat belt as the light came on, popping a piece of gum in his mouth.

"There's going to be a lot high profile people at the convention tomorrow, so I hired you a local stylist." Michonne brought up and Rick raised his eyebrows.

"So I can't dress myself?" Rick asked, looked up at her from under his brow.

The three people on the jet immediately looked panicked and Michonne spoke again, quickly. "It's just we figured you would be so busy, and we've never been to Atlanta, so having a stylist would be safest. She's really nice Rick, promise." Michonne assured.

Rick mused over that for a second and then nodded, feeling the jet bounce as it made touchdown with the landing strip. "That's fine. Michonne you're with us for dinner right?"

Michonne nodded, "yeah, yeah for sure."

When they got the all clear to get off of the plane, Rick hopped up and slid his phone into his back pocket. Daryl got up next to him and Rick was the first off the plane and into the muggy Atlanta air.

Rick pulled his sunglasses off from around his collar and put them on, dimming the sunlight.

Almost directly adjacent from the jet was a limo. Rick assumed that someone else would grab his bags and so slid into the car.

It was nice, white leather seats, and could probably seat seven people. Michonne and Daryl slid in next to him, Maggie would be taking a separate car.

The privacy screen at the front rolled down to reveal Jerry, grinning at the three of them. "What's up guys!" He greeted.

Rick smiled at Jerry. He didn't really mind him. In fact, he was better than most limo drivers. At least Jerry actually had a personality and didn't seem to be intimidated by Rick.

Daryl reached up to fistbump Jerry and Michonne laughed at the two of them. Rick grabbed the bottle of champagne that was chilling in ice in front of them.

He twisted the top off and then leaned back in his seat taking a long sip.

"Another drink?" Daryl questioned and Rick shrugged.

"You want some?"

"Hell yeah."

Rick passed the bottle over to Daryl and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He had about twenty messages from Maggie from earlier this morning when he was late to the airport, but other than that he hadn't gotten anything new.

He was tagged in a photo on Instagram that featured him shirtless and having champagne poured over him. Rick didn't really remember when that was taken, but he didn't give a shit.

"Rick how drunk are you?" Michonne asked from the other side of Daryl, leaning forward in her seat.

"Surprisingly, not that drunk at all. Hey can we stop for some coffee?" He called to Jerry who still had the screen rolled down.

"Sounds good boss. You want drive thru or inside?"

"Let's go inside." Rick said and Daryl handed the bottle of champagne back to him.

"Good, you need something before you get drunk and make a fool of yourself at dinner." Michonne joked and Rick cracked a smile.

"When do I  _not_ make a fool of myself?"

They drove around for a little longer before Jerry pulled into a parking lot and rolled to a stop. "I'm taking up three spots, so I'll wait here with the car running."

"Thanks Jerry, hey do you want anything?" Rick asked as he opened the door.

"For real?"

"Yeah, gotta keep the driver awake."

"Thanks! Yeah just a cuppa with some cream."

Rick nodded and headed into the Starbucks with Michonne and Daryl in tow. They were probably over dressed for the scene, but Rick didn't care, and he knew how hard it was to go through a drive thru with a limo so he didn't want to make Jerry do that.

"Hey Rick, I just got an email that Simon is going to be there tomorrow. I'm assuming he'll want a private dinner with you, is that alright?" Michonne asked.

"God Simon is the fucking worst." Daryl groaned and pulled his sunglasses off when they walked in. Rick kept his on.

"He's got an average dick too." Rick mumbled as he walked through the door that Michonne held open for him.

Daryl laughed for a moment. "Alright ladies, can we keep it appropriate in public?" Michonne chastised and both Rick and Daryl nodded.

"Yes mom." Rick joked and Michonne lovingly tapped him on the shoulder.

Rick felt good in settings like this. He was unstressed, could almost feel like he was getting a cup of coffee with friends, and not with his publicist and basically hired best friend.

To be fair, Rick really liked Daryl, and he was pretty sure they could  _actually_ be friends. But that didn't change the fact that they had met through Maggie setting them up. Daryl wasn't anywhere near as famous as Rick and so Maggie had thought they could make good friends, help each other move up in the industry. Daryl had kind of stagnated after meeting Paul though... But they still traveled around together.

Michonne he got along with, but he also paid her salary, and that was just  _weird_ to him.

"Hey what can I get for you guys?" The barista asked, smiling at the three of them.

"What do you guys want?" Rick let Michonne and Daryl go first. When it was his turn he made sure to order Jerry's before walking to stand by the drink counter.

Daryl and Michonne both pulled their phones out at the same time as Rick looked around the shop. It was pretty empty, a few eyes were on them just because they were dressed ostensibly, but Rick was used to all eyes being on him. That was basically the point of the whole weekend.

"Hey Michonne are Alex and Gareth gonna be there?" Rick asked absent mindedly as his drink was called. He let Daryl grab Jerry's.

"Uh, yeah, yeah I think so." She said, grabbing her drink and stopping to put some cream in it.

"Ugh, even worse than Simon. I mean they're  _brothers_." Rick rolled his eyes. He wished that there was just one actually decent guy in the industry. Rick got tired of being the fuck pal to all these creepy guys. He wanted someone who would actually take care of him... But that was probably long way off. He was an anomaly in the BDSM community, becoming so famous so fast. He was a natural. And Rick did like this lifestyle.

Rick turned around with his cold brew too fast and then he was running directly into the person behind him, getting ice cold coffee all over both of them.

The employees were the first to move, running to grab a mop or something. Rick slowly backed up, letting the cup fall in between them, and looking down at his stained suit.

"Oh shit, hey, I'm so sorry. I uh, I probably can't pay to have that replaced." The guy tried to joke and Rick slowly lifted his gaze to the man who had just about ruined thousands of dollars worth of clothing.

Rick could tell that Michonne and Daryl were both tense, waiting for Rick to blow up at the guy. And truth be told, Rick normally would be yelling at someone like this, but he found himself instead just kind of staring at the guy.

He was, handsome. Really handsome. It kind of caught Rick off guard since he spent most of his days surrounded by gorgeous people.

Rick quickly fished a business card out of his back pocket and handed it to the man. "No, no, I'll cover everything. Everyone always tells me this shirt is ugly anyway so now I can finally get rid of it." He said, trying to bring out his confident side as he spoke. "Text me, I mean it."

And then Rick sauntered out of the Starbucks, covered in coffee but feeling like hot shit, with his two employees catching up behind him.

"Rick what the hell was  _that?_ " Michonne asked, coming in step next to him and then sliding into the limo. Rick stripped his shirt off as soon as he got inside, comfortable with being bare chested in front of them.

"He was handsome." Rick shrugged, obviously not thinking it to be a big deal.

"You can't do things like that! You know how  _he_ feels." She protested and Rick leaned back in his seat, crossing one leg over the other dramatically.

"What? Are you going to tell him?"

That shut up Michonne immediately and she scowled at him. "Just don't text him Rick."

"Maybe I want someone more  _average_ in my life." He leaned over and rifled through the minibar in the limo, pulling out a tiny bottle of rum and then leaning back in his seat, twisting the top off.

"Oh  _do_ you now? Gonna give up the private jet? The clothes? The ridiculous salary?"

The shut Rick up immediately and he took a swig of the alcohol, not wanting to talk anymore.

He knew that he couldn't just leave, and the Philip really wouldn't appreciate him cavorting around with some guy that he met in a fucking Starbucks. Sometimes Rick tried not to give a damn what Philip thought, but his bank account certainly did.

It wasn't that Philip owned him it was just... It was a really good job and Rick had nothing to go back to if he stopped working for Phillip. He ran away from home for Philip, never graduated high school, and he didn't really have any friends.

"I don't want to go to dinner tonight." He said, taking another sip of the rum.

"You're  _going._ " Michonne said, Daryl looked a little uncomfortable in the corner with the low level tantrum that Rick was throwing.

"Hmm."

" _God Rick!_ You're  _going_ to dinner. You're going to order a fucking salad and a glass of white wine. Then you're going to sit in your seat for two whole hours listening to Philip talk to you. Okay? This is a big job Rick. You can't fuck it up." Michonne said through gritted teeth.

"Fine. But I want a new shirt."

"You have shirts in your suitcases in the back."

"A  _new_ one."

"Rick you're going to fucking kill me."

* * *

_**from: [unknown]** _

_Hey, coffee guy! I seriously want to repay what I owe you, do you have a cash app or something?_

Rick glanced down at his phone, wearing a new shirt that he'd made Michonne go in and buy for him.

They were almost to the restaurant now and Rick was starting to feel bad about his previous outburst, he wasn't going to apologize. He didn't really know how, but maybe he would try and be nicer to Michonne for a while. Maggie certainly had the hardest job out of the three, but he often felt like he was the meanest to Michonne.

It not like he wanted to be an asshole, it just... Happened.

_**to: [unknown]** _

_How about we split the difference and you buy me a coffee._

Rick knew that he shouldn't have sent that, he shouldn't be talking to this guy at all.

They pulled up at the restaurant, finally first in a line of cars pulling up at the front doors.

When they got out Rick felt mostly at home, walking a pace in front of Michonne and Daryl, but he was thinking about that guy that he met.  _Is he nice?_ Rick couldn't quite tell yet, he hoped so.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and he desperately wanted to check it, but he knew that he couldn't.

"Will you sit next to me Michonne?" He asked her as they neared the table. Rick could sit directly next to Philip or he could sit one seat away and use Michonne as a buffer.

He hated sitting next to Philip, the man always groped him, and Rick just had to be okay with it.

"Yes of course." She said, knowing why he wouldn't want to be by Philip.

When they took their seats, Daryl was on the other side of him and Rick only knew a few of the people at the table but he smiled at them all liked he cared about them and greeted them like he wanted them to like them.

"Rick, so glad you could make it." Philip said, leaned back in his chair and smirking at Rick.

"And I'm go glad to be here." He said, fake excitedness dripping from his voice.

"We need to talk about some of the things you'll be expected to do for the rest of the week. There's a lot of pressure on you to,  _perform._ " Rick cringed slightly, knowing where the conversation was going. Philip would talk loudly and publicly about all the men and women he would be expected to fuck and places he would be showcased.

"If you'll excuse me for just one moment to the restroom. Daryl." He stood and Daryl stood with him, he would have even if he hadn't asked for him. Philip raised an eyebrow at him but Rick remained stoic as he worked his way though the restaurant.

"You okay Rick?" Daryl asked when they got to the bathroom and Rick immediately leaned against the wall.

"I've been in a mood all day, and this dinner is not fucking helping me." He sighed and pulled his phone out.

_**[unknown]** _

_Well you're sure fucking forward. I know a place, tomorrow morning work?_

When Rick looked up from his phone, Daryl was holding out a rectangular white pill to Rick. He took it without question.


	2. Misery

Rick was fading in and out for the rest of the night. He'd taken at least three more of those pills and had been getting incredibly sleepy towards the end of his dinner. Philip had definitely noticed that something was off, and when he was finally carted to his hotel room he passed out almost immediately.

"Rick, hey man, you gotta get up soon." He felt a large hand pushing against his shoulder and rousing him from his sleep.

He sat up immediately in a panic and rubbed his head, obviously in a slight panic. "What's going on?" He asked, trying to open his heavy eyelids and look to who was in the room.

It was just Daryl, only Daryl.

"You're confused because of the xans man, you had too much to drink. Just lay back down and I'll get you some water." Daryl urged and removed from hand from Rick's shoulder, walking over to the attached kitchen in the hotel room and retrieving a glass of water.

"Time 'sit?" Rick called, laying back on the bed and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. At least his head didn't hurt or anything, he was just slowly starting to push through the confusion that sat in his head like a fog.

"7:30." He responded, walking back into the bedroom and handing Rick the glass as the man sat back up. Rick was only in his boxers as he seemed to remember Daryl stripping his clothes off after he got into bed.

"What the fuck do I have to do at 7:30 in the morning?" He asked, throwing his legs over the side of the bed and standing up, stretching his arms high above his body and then letting them fall limply to his side. He reached for the water and drank the whole glass in about two sips.

"Your hot date? You were gushing to me about him last night." Daryl responded, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh shit, fuck I didn't say anything around Philip did I?" Rick asked, turning around from where he was facing the window to look at Daryl, his body suddenly tensed up.

"God no, you just had to 'piss' a helluva lot and kept dragging me along to the bathroom. I'm surprised you don't remember." Daryl mused to himself and Rick set the glass down, walking over to his closet where some hotel employee had hung all of his clothing.

"Surprised?" Rick echoed and dug through his clothing, looking for something that wasn't dressy or slutty, but that seemed to be the majority of his wardrobe. If he was back home then he would have basically an entire room of clothing, but he'd only brought what he'd thought he would need to Atlanta.

"You told me that he was the  _love of your life_ and asked me if I would be the best man at your wedding." Daryl chuckled, and Rick turned slightly red.

"I really was smashed wasn't I? Suppose it's better than having to listen to Philip tell me what guys I'm being paid to fuck." Most of what Rick remembered was Philip telling him that he would be part of a  _demonstration_ tonight.

Rick was used to shit like this though. Philip whored him around, but the man also used Rick at his more lascivious party's. It usually ended up with Rick being tied up and sitting for hours in the same spot.  _Usually_ at party's Philip didn't let anyone fuck him, there was a very well kept list of what men were allowed to be with Rick. It wasn't like Rick got a say, but Philip wanted to keep Rick a hot commodity, and he certainly was. Rick got 70% of what they paid to sleep with him.

Philip basically owned the BDSM community, along with billions of dollars worth of real estate, and some other things that Rick had no idea about. So if someone was into BDSM, they knew who Rick was. He was on the cover of magazines, he was used to demo new gear.

"You lookin for somethin to wear?" Daryl asked, coming up behind him and looking through the closet.

"I don't have anything. Can I borrow something from you?"

"Uh, yeah, sure I guess. Might be a little too big on ya." Daryl said and Rick shrugged, walking to the door to his room.

"You're still in your underwear." Daryl reminded him, pulling his own hotel keycard out of his wallet. He also had the key to Rick's.

"I'll give 'em a show." Rick said, throwing Daryl a cheeky smile and walking into the hall. Rick had literally no shame when it came to how people perceived him.

Daryl grumbled something but rushed out after Rick. Daryl, Michonne, and Maggie had a suite only a few doors down. Technically it was larger than Rick's, but that was only because it had three bedrooms.

Once in the room, Rick saw Maggie and Michonne both awake and sipping cups of coffee in their pajamas on the couch.

Maggie raised her eyebrow at him. "How was dinner?" She asked and Rick immediately took a seat in the middle of the both of them, forcing them to scoot apart and leaving Daryl to go and choose an outfit for him.

"Mmm, boring." He complained and reached for Michonne's cup of coffee. She let him take it without comment.

"Were you high?"

"Not  _high_."

"Are you bending the truth?"

"Hmm."

"Here's your clothes." Daryl brought out a folded pair of jeans and a tee shirt with a cardigan. Rick got dressed in the middle of the living room. He had to cinch the pants with a belt because Daryl was so much more muscular than him.

"Where are you going?" Maggie asked, taking her coffee back from where Rick had set it on the coffee table.

Rick was about to respond but Daryl cut him off. "There's a breakfast joint that I've been wanting to try. Rick promised." He said, grabbing his bag off of the table.

"Take Abraham with you." Maggie said, picking up a magazine off of the table in an obvious show that she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Rick rolled his eyes but didn't argue. "Tell him to meet us at the car in fifteen."

* * *

_**from: [unknown]** _

_I'm running about twenty minutes late, sorry._

Rick was in the car then, tapping his foot slightly and ignoring the still half full bottle of champagne that was sitting within arms reach.

_**to: [unknown]** _

_thats ok! im late to everything. so really ur on time. ;)_

He slid his phone back into his pocket and looked up at Daryl who was on his phone across from him, and Abraham who was sitting on the far side with his arms crossed. He was dressed more plain clothed than usual in a flannel button down and jeans. Usually Rick's body-guards wore suits.

"Why'd you cover for me in there Daryl?" Rick asked, cocking his head slightly to the side.

"Because you  _know_ that those too wouldn't be okay with you going out with him." He explained in his gruff voice, barely even a mumble.

"But you didn't have to lie. You could've just told them the truth and stopped me from doing this." He countered, Abraham looked slightly confused in the back since he'd obviously heard Daryl's lie from Maggie.

Daryl shrugged. "You gotta find yourself someone eventually." Was all he had to offer up as a response and Rick kind of understood. Daryl had Paul now, and so had stopped having sex with Philip's men. He still followed Rick around from convention to convention.

"Is there something more to this little breakfast meeting?" Abraham asked and Rick had half a mind to continue the lie, but Abraham would be sitting a few tables away from him and whoever this guy was that he was meeting, and Daryl would probably go off somewhere with Jerry.

"You can't tell Michonne or Maggie but I met someone yesterday and he's, uh, buying me coffee today." Rick said, feeling a slight flush come to his face. That was new for him. He was so used to just meeting guys and then having sex with them, he didn't really know what to do on an actual date.

Abraham nodded his head slowly. "Alright, top secret mission."

The privacy screen rolled down all the way. "Did someone say something about a top secret mission?" Jerry asked, turning his head to face them as they were currently at a red light.

"You can hear us through that thing?" Rick questioned and Jerry just grinned, not responding.

_**to: [unknown]** _

_whats your name btw?_

_**from: [unknown]** _

_Negan. And you're Rick?_

**_to: Negan_ **

_howd you kno?_

**_from: Negan_ **

_Business Card. I like it._

**_to: Negan_ **

_like what?_

**_from: Negan_ **

_Your name._

Rick didn't know how to respond to that, feeling his cheeks flush again. This was getting kind of ridiculous, he got compliments all the time, most of them far more romantic and obscene than that. But there was something about Negan that seemed so much more genuine than everyone else.

They stopped about a block away from the little shop and let Abraham out. "You want out here too boss?" Jerry asked.

Rick shook his head. "No, why?"

"I mean, I know you like to be flashy, but this guy probably isn't used to limos dropping his dates off." Jerry explain and Rick quirked his lips to the side.

"Oh. Oh yeah, that makes sense. Okay. Daryl I'll text you when I'm done." Rick said and slid out of the car and onto the side walk. Abraham had been waiting outside to see what was going on. Jerry took off pretty soon after Rick was outside.

"Jerry said I shouldn't arrive in a limo." Rick told Abraham who had looked at him with furrowed brows.

"Good call, much more casual like this. You start walking and I'll pick up in a second." He said and Rick nodded.

He started down the sidewalk with Abraham trailing about twenty feet behind him, which was something he was used to. He felt a little off put though, like something wasn't quite right. His stomach was doing weird flip flops that he hadn't felt before, or at least not in a long time.

Rick noticed that his hands were slightly clammy and wiped them on his light washed jeans.  _I'm nervous._ He thought to himself suddenly and pushed his lips together into a firm line. He didn't  _get_ nervous. Rick was the most confident damn person that he knew.

When he had the sign of the coffee shop hanging in view Rick reached deep into Daryl's jean pocket to see if there was some loose Xanax in there, maybe he  _actually_ needed some. But there wasn't. So he took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

It was quaint inside, kind of cramped and homey. There were only a handful of people in the shop and he spotted Negan towards the back.

Rick sured himself and then walked to the back. It was a pretty secluded spot where Negan was sitting, and the man was facing away from Rick. He could only tell it was him because the other people in the store didn't match his description at all.

"Uh, Negan?" He asked softly as he came up on the man.

He turned his head to face Rick immediately and then stood. Negan was dressed incredibly handsome and Rick basically felt himself salivating at the look of his legs in black jeans and a leather jacket.

"And you're the guy I spilled coffee on." Negan said with a grin, reaching his hand out for Rick to shake.

"Oh I think we can share the blame for that one." Rick smiled back at him and gripped his hand. Negan held it for a little longer than Rick was used to and looked directly at him for a moment, flashing Rick one quick smirk before pulling his hand away.

Rick was pretty sure he visibly swooned.

"Take a seat. I'll buy the coffees, you had a cold brew yesterday right?" He asked and Rick nodded with a smile, taking a seat where Negan would be opposite as the man traipsed to the counter. It gave Rick a great view of his legs as he walked, and Rick leaned forward a bit to see his broad shoulders in that jacket.

Abraham walked in shortly after, wearing a pair of sunglasses that obscured his eyes. It made it easier for him to watch Rick and make sure he was safe. Abraham got in line right behind Negan and it made Rick grin to realize that Abraham was sizing the man up. Abraham's opinion actually meant a lot to him.

Rick crossed one leg over the other and set his phone on the table face up, then fidgeted a bit, and then turned it over so that he couldn't check it on their date.  _Date._ The word was really foreign to him and Rick quirked his lips to the side.

Negan took a seat with both of their drinks and Rick took his inbetween both of his hands, but they were already clammy and cold so he wiped them softly on his pants and then rested them near the coffee, suddenly unsure of what exactly he should do with his hands.

"So Rick, what do you do to warrant such fancy business cards?" Negan asked right off the bat, sipping at his coffee. He had a pair of sunglasses on his tee shirt and Rick wondered how handsome he would look with them on.

When the questioned registered in his brain Rick reeled for a moment. He hadn't thought about this. Obviously this was something that would come up. Rick was glad that he wasn't dressed ostentatiously today and that the limo hadn't dropped him off right out front.

"I, uh, I'm a realtor. With a big company based out of Los Angeles." He came up with on the fly and hoped that it made sense. He was pretty sure Philip had hired people to buy buildings and such for him, but Rick wasn't super smart about all that kind of stuff.

"Oh, your card didn't say that." Negan noticed and Rick suddenly felt like he was under investigation.

"Yeah, Blake Co. It a big time place, most people on the west coast know about it. Anyway, what do you do?" Rick gushed out and Negan raised an eyebrow and Rick desperately hoped that Negan wouldn't go look the company up, or worse, look Rick himself up.

"High school teacher on the North side. English." He responded and Rick took a sip of his drink. "So you're in town for a business trip."

Rick really wished that the conversation could be about Negan instead of him, but Rick was glad that Negan seemed interested in asking him questions. "Just for the week actually. Well maybe two, my manager isn't sure yet."

"Oh, is this your first time in Atlanta?"

"Yeah! I've been all over but never Atlanta."

"Well fuck, I'd love to show you around! Guy as handsome as you though, your bound to have others begging for your attention though?" Negan joked and it made Rick smile, but it also hit pretty close to home.

"I... I'd like that. It's hard for me to really see the local parts of the cities I visit." He confessed and for a moment glanced over his shoulder towards where Abraham was a few tables over, reading a newspaper, but Rick knew he was really watching them.

"What kind of stuff do you like?" Negan asked and then amended: "sorry, that's broad. What kind of stuff would you like to see?"

Rick had to think for a moment. He spent most of his time in cities in upscale clubs or fancy hotel ballrooms. "Food, sorry, shit, I uh, I like local food but I never really get around to finding it. And beer, I'm lying, I don't like beer. Fuck I don't know what I like." Rick felt like he was rambling and his hands were getting a little shaky.  _Fucking Xanax._ It was either that or all the alcohol... Maybe cocaine? One of the three his body was weirdly craving at 9 in the morning. Or withdrawing from, but Rick was starting to feel sick. He glanced over Negan's shoulder again.

Negan laughed, loud, and long. "You're funny. I can show you the spots I like. Maybe some food, no beer." He smiled and Rick nodded genuinely.

"Do you like teaching?" Rick asked suddenly, a little off topic. Rick always wondered about  _real_ jobs. He felt like he didn't have a real job. He had no qualifications for his current job, he wasn't even sure if he had a high school diploma, he didn't thing so.

"Yeah, I like it. I coach that baseball team and my coworkers aren't too terrible. It's the students that I really like though. Don't get me wrong, most days they're super annoying, but every once in a while I just feel... I don't know, like I'm changing somebody's life? That's fucking stupid, sorry I'm rambling." He stopped himself and Rick looked down at the table, smiling.

"No, no. You sound like you really care about your job. That's awesome, kinda wish I liked my job that much." Rick admitted, and one more time glanced over Negan's shoulder, he didn't really know why he kept doing it, looking at Abraham kind of grounded him though.

Negan turned his head to look where Rick was looking. "That guy bothering you?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"No, no, I'm sorry. Just looking around." He explained, hoping that he covered himself well. It would be weird to explain why he had a bodyguard at this point.


	3. Go To Him

_**to: Negan** _

_Thanks for buying me coffee! had fun :)_

Rick had his feet kicked up on a very expensive mahogany coffee table, a bottle of white wine in his hand and wearing only a fluffy bathrobe and a pair of socks, the top of it was falling open slightly.

He was alone for once in the day as Daryl was off getting them lunch. Apparently his new 'stylist' was supposed to be showing up sometime soon. Maggie had hired him one before when they'd been in Paris and Rick had been just as pissed off. In the end it had worked out because Rick really  _didn't_ understand the style. But this was Atlanta, Georgia, Rick didn't really know why he needed someone. Maybe it was Maggie's new thing.

He took another sip of his wine and felt his body starting to calm down from his previous jitters. He thought amazing how easy it was to get drinks when you were rich. Rick was only twenty and he didn't think he'd ever been turned down at one of the high class clubs he'd been in. No one had ever even checked his I.D.

_**from: Negan** _

_Me too. You're cute, we should see each other again soon since you're only in town for the week._

Rick wanted to see Negan again right now instead of going to Philip's stupid thing, but he couldn't do that, couldn't just skip out.

He heard a knocking at the door and he jumped up, pulling the bathrobe tighter around himself and opening the door. The woman standing at it was rather plain, with short cropped gray hair and a nondescript outfit of grays and blacks.

"Rick?" She asked, a kind smile on her face. It didn't quite seem genuine though, but Rick couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong.

"Yeah, come in." He took a step back from the door, leaving a wide space for her to enter. She had a large duffel bag on her shoulder that she set down as soon as she entered.

"I'm Carol. Maggie called me as soon as she knew you were coming to Atlanta." She responded and walked further into the hotel room, looking like she knew her way around it and finding her way to the bedroom as Rick followed behind her.

"Did you know Maggie before this?" He asked, taking a seat on the bed and letting her open his closet, searching through it for a moment before going to retrieve her duffel bag from the main entrance.

"A little. Her fiancee really is who knew my family." She explained and set the bag down. She pulled a few things from his closet and set them on his bed. Rick didn't even bother looking. He would wear whatever Carol told him to if it would placate Maggie at least a little.

"Fiancee?" Rick questioned, furrowing his brows a little and sitting up on the bed so he could more easily talk with Carol.

He had to start driving to the event in about two hours. It was across town so Rick would probably arrive late, but he arrived everywhere late. It was basically a corporate meet and greet for Philip and his lackeys. Rick would be expected to show up, act slutty, and go home with a man of Philip's choosing.

"Glenn, haven't you met him?" Carol asked and finished pulling things out of the closet.

"Oh, maybe yeah. I think I've met him." Rick hadn't.

Carol  _tsskd_ and then motioned for Rick to stand up. "You work with Daryl right?" She asked and untied the knot holding Rick's robe up, he didn't protest, she seemed like she knew what she was doing. Luckily Rick was wearing a pair of underwear, though honestly he wasn't sure if she would have even minded if he wasn't. She was very professional.

"He doesn't do as much of what I do specifically anymore but yeah, why? Know 'im?" Rick asked and let Carol push him into a chair, pulling her bag up onto a small vanity table.

She pulled out a medley of hair styling equipment. "I do. Has anyone ever told you that your hair is a mess?" She asked and steadied his head so that he was staring forward, letting her get to work at taming the loose curls.

"How do you know him?" Rick ignored the comment on his hair as he felt her brush soothingly work through it. He usually just let his hair do whatever it wanted to do, he felt it made him look low-effort.

"We grew up in the same town. I used to come round and watch him every once in a while after his mother died." She explained and Rick had no idea that Daryl's mom was dead. Rick didn't really know how his own mother was.

"Oh. How long have you been doing this kind of work?" He was trying to make easy conversation with her, and truly Carol seemed like a nice person, but her body language was harsh and Rick wondered if this was her real personality, or her client personality.

"I actually haven't done this in a long time. When I was younger I got into it, but that's been, oh, ten, fifteen years now?" She responded and Rick nodded a bit but couldn't think of anything else to say.

When Carol was finished with his hair she walked around to his front and pulled out a shaving kit. Rick raised an eyebrow at the look of such a small lady with such a sharp razor, but he'd been shaved before and he figured she would know what she was doing.

It wasn't until after she finished shaving him, and covering a small pimple on his forehead, that they spoke again.

"How long have  _you_ been doing this Rick?" She packed some of her stuff up as she asked and pulled Rick to stand up. He was basically moving as a rag doll with her.

"Almost four whole years now." He responded easily as she picked up a suit jacket from off the bed. It was one he didn't wear often, wasn't even sure why he brought it. It was dark blue and didn't button, the ends just wrapped tightly around his waist and tied in the back.

"This jacket is scratchy." He complained and took the pants that she handed to him, shimmying the extra tight garment up his legs.

"That sucks." She responded dryly but didn't move to get him something else to wear. She held up two belts to his pants before deciding on one and letting Rick put it on himself.

"I don't want to wear it."

"You're going to wear it." Carol turned her back to him and found his shoes, searching for a moment before pulling out a pair of white leather wingtips that she instructed him to put on with no socks.

"Why. I have other ones." He countered but Carol looked like she didn't want to hear it.

"Because I told you to wear this one. Go look in the mirror."

Rick walked over to the floor length mirror that was on the back of his closet door. He looked good.  _Really_ good. The suit jacket was just a little cropped so there was a thick line of skin between the hem and his pants. He'd never worn a jacket without a shirt under it, and the chest was wide open, but Rick didn't really mind it. He did look good.

"Fine."

"Anyone ever told you you can be kind of a brat?" She questioned and packed the rest of the stuff up back into her bag.

"No because I'm not." He said quickly and picked up his phone, figuring he would go to the others' room and wait until they had to leave.

"No, because they're being paid to be nice to you." She quipped.

"Are you done here? I don't like you." Rick walked towards the exit from the room and Carol had her bag hiked high on her shoulder like she had it when she'd come it.

"I am done. And yes you do like me." She pushed the door open and left the room, Rick following behind her so he could go to the other room.

"I'm talking to Maggie about my other options. I'm not kidding." He called out after her and she laughed, walking away.

Maybe Rick did kind of like her.

* * *

Rick plugged one side of the nose with his finger and breathed in sharply through the other nostril.

" _Really_?" Maggie asked, exasperated and sitting on the other end of the limo from him and Daryl.

Daryl pocketed his car key and the gram of coke in his front suit pocket, grinning at Maggie. "Just a bit of fun Maggs, you think we can go to this sober?" Daryl questioned, crossing one of his long legs over the other.

Rick smiled as well, letting his head lean back against the seat of the car. "This certainly isn't the most illegal thing you've been privy to Maggie." Rick said leisurely, his mind starting to become more focused, sharper, as his mouth began to go numb. "Hey," he said, picking his head up off the seat. "When were you going to tell me you got engaged?"

"I thought that I had. Remember I requested two weeks on in September for it." Rick didn't remember at all.

" _Two_ weeks? Whatever for?" He asked, leaning a little against Daryl.

"The wedding  _and_ honeymoon." She clarified.

"Hmmm." Rick said but nothing after that. They were quiet for the rest of the car ride, Jerry playing some music softly from the front of the car. Michonne never came to these types of things. She hated them really, and he didn't need a publicist around.

Rick felt a buzzing in his back pocket.

_**from: Negan** _

_Hey, what's your favorite kind of food. I need to know for top fucking secret reasons._

Rick laughed, out loud at his phone and the action made him lean forward a bit, and then as he leaned back into his seat the world rushed around him as if he was in slow motion. He bit at his tongue softly, but it was numb.

His fingers trembled ever so slightly as he texted back a response.

_**to: Negan** _

_the biggest, greasiest burger you can find. maggie doesn't let me have them_

Rick let his phone slip ever so slightly from his grip and it fell on the floor of the car. Sasha leaned forward to pick it up and handed it back to him. Sasha was his other bodyguard, Abe was in a different car and would be arriving separately.

"You okay there cowboy?" She asked and Rick laughed, sitting up straighter in his seat.

"Nother bump?" Daryl asked.

"No! Wait a few hours at least Rick,  _please_." Maggie emphasized and Rick nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, few hours. Meet me in the bathroom hot stuff." Rick joked and laughed at himself, turning his phone over in his hand to read the new text.

_**from: Negan** _

_Who's Maggie? Why doesn't she let you have burgers?_

**_to: Negan_ **

_whoopsie wasnt supposed to say that. ill text you tomorrow tonights a banger_

**_from: Negan_ **

_Not to overstep my fucking reach but are you okay?_

**_to: Negan_ **

_srry, just a little tipsy. I'll go to bed soon, we should do smthn tmro!_

By the time Rick had gotten his fingers to comply and send the text, they were already pulling up the venue. It was some kind of distillery in the basement of what appeared to be an abandoned building. Rick really didn't have any clue.

When they stepped out of the car Rick immediately felt like he was being pulled in a million different directions. Everyone wanted to talk to him, everyone wanted to grope him, and the only upside: everyone wanted to buy him a drink.

Rick used to like things like this, being doted on and fought over. But recently, over the last couple of months he was starting to not appreciate the lingering touches and leers that he got. Sure he liked to be the center of attention, but this was starting to get old.

"Rick! Come over here." He heard a voice call and immediately jumped to it, recognizing the specific timber. It was Simon, one of his least favorite, but most important clients.

"Well don't you clean up nice." Rick purred, letting Simon pull him flush against his side, one of his meaty hands gripping harshly at his slightly exposed hip. Rick frowned, but then quickly schooled his features.

"Always the catty one aren't you. This my friends, is Rick Grimes. Philip's little protege and toy. But don't worry, he likes to share." Simon promised to the two people standing in front of him.

"Wonderful to meet you Rick. My name is Ezekiel, I have only recently come into contact with Simon here."

Ezekiel extended his hand to Rick and shook it firmly. Rick stared up at him in bewilderment. Most people just ignored him or said something lecherous. Ezekiel smoked at him, a huge beaming thing that make Rick shyly smile back with just a hint of a  _real_ smile.

"And this is Gregory, I'm sure the two of you will become much better acquainted." Simon moved aside a bit to allow Gregory to shake Rick's hand. Rick could tell immediately that Gregory was the exact opposite Ezekiel by the way the man awkwardly grinned at him.

"Oh and it  _is_ a pleasure." Rick accentuated and may have held on to Gregory's hand for just a moment too long, all purposeful of course.

"Let me buy you a drink Rick, here accompany me to the bar." Ezekiel offered and Rick nodded. Simon begrudgingly let go of his hold on Rick and Gregory stared a lingering look after him, Rick could feel it.

"Thank you." Rick said to him as they made their way through the crowd. Ezekiel didn't make one move to touch Rick, just walked barely a step ahead of him.

Rick spotted Sasha in the crowd, dressed to the nines and making pleasant conversation, but her eyes darted to his as they walked by, making sure that he was safe.

When they got to the bar Ezekiel didn't ask what Rick wanted, he simply handed him a glass of water in a plain looking cup and dabbed the edge of a napkin in his own drink. "You have dried blood on your nose." Ezekiel handed the wetted napkin to Rick who immediately, abashedly, ran it over his nose.

"Sorry, just so sensitive to this air." He responded and took a sip. He was surprised that Ezekiel ordered him water, but he wasn't ungrateful. The cocaine had completely worn off about thirty minutes ago and he was parched.

"Are you? It's rather wet in Atlanta. Tell me Rick what do you do for Philip Blake?" Ezekiel questioned, leaning against the bar. Rick felt secluded in this area, like no one else could hear them. That was false of course, someone could always hear him.

"Anything he asks." Rick responded coolly, but inside he felt like it was sweltering. He spotted Daryl across the room, but slowly making his way towards Rick. He and Ezekiel had a time limit on their conversation.

" _Anything_?" Ezekiel parroted, raising one eyebrow.

Rick was starting to get a headache.

"What do  _you_ want me to do for you?" Rick asked him, wondering where this was all going in the end.

"Nothing, nothing at all Rick. But if I did want something, if I did want sex. You would give it to me?" Ezekiel scanned the room as well, seeming to make sure that no one important was in their vicinity.

"Of course. For a price."

"I see. But as I said, I don't want anything of you Rick. Now I have to return to my boring conversations, do watch that nose of yours Rick."

And then Ezekiel was gone into the crowd and Daryl was pulling him along by the hand to the nearest bathroom.


	4. Chains

Rick woke up tired, with a killer headache, and for some reason on the floor. He didn't immediately know where he was and groaned as his joints creaked as he tried to sit up.

He realized with a start that he was in his own hotel room and had for some reason rolled onto the floor. He wasn't wearing anything, not even underwear, and no one else seemed to be in the room. He stood up and looked around, it seemed like he had honestly just rolled onto the floor, most of the blankets had come with him and so he hastily threw them back on the bed.

After throwing on a tee shirt and a pair of sweat pants he walked out into the kitchen. His phone was plugged in on the island and he pulled it off of the plug. It was almost one in the afternoon. He had one message.

_**from: Negan** _

_Hope the night went alright. I'm off work around four if you wanted to get dinner._

**_to: Negan_ **

_I'll have to check my schedule. i'd really like to see you though_

Rick pocketed his phone and walked to his room door, crossing the hall to Maggie's room.

He knocked on the door and waited for a long time, but no one came to the door.

Rick honestly didn't really remember what happened last night after he began to drink more heavily. He didn't remember how he got home or ever leaving the club.

"Hey Rick! You're finally awake." Daryl called as he strolled up the hall with Maggie and Michonne in tow. They were carrying bags of breakfast foods and cups of coffee, looked like they had one for him.

"Yeah, rough night." He said, but wasn't entirely sure if the night had been rough outside of the drinking.

"Philip wants you to have dinner with some new people tonight. I told him you weren't going to be up for it." Maggie said, shifting one of the bags to her hip and opening the hotel room door.

"Oh? Why's that?" Rick asked, waltzing into the hotel room and taking a seat on the couch.

_**from: Negan** _

_I'd like to see you as well. You have a pretty fucking mysterious life, it's interesting._

"Have you seen yourself in the mirror today?" Maggie asked, raising an eyebrow at him and setting the breakfast stuff down on a counter.

"Do you remember what happened last night Rick?" Michonne asked, taking a slightly more concerned and motherly look.

Rick shook his head to both accounts and stood up to find a mirror, typing away a response.

_**to: Negan** _

_not interesting, just annoying! managr just told me i don't have anything to do tonight._

Rick looked up into the bathroom mirror that he'd found and cringed. He had a black eye. It wasn't horribly bad, but it was still slightly purple and green directly under his eye.

"What the fuck happened?" Rick asked, backing out of the bathroom and bringing his fingers to the area right under his eye.

"We're not totally sure actually. It was around midnight and I told Abraham that I'd seen you go out the backdoor with someone. By the time he got out there it looked like the two of you had probably done something sexual, but then he'd hit you and took off. Abraham tried to chase after him but couldn't catch up." Maggie explained and Rick frowned.

"Who the fuck would hit me?" He wondered allowed and sat back down on the couch.

Michonne took a seat next to him on the couch, handing him a cup of coffee that Rick gladly took. "We have no idea, I'm so sorry Rick."

"Can one of you call Carol please?" He asked with a long sigh, taking a small sip of his coffee and then setting it on the table. He was still a little too sick from the cocaine last night to really ingest anything.

"Whatever for?" Maggie asked around bites of a croissant, but pulling her phone out of her pocket anyway.

"I need her to come cover this shit up. I want to go out tonight."

"Rick I've already cancelled everything with Philip, you can just stay in and rest." She reassured, taking a seat next to him on the couch.

"I'm going out with some friends and Daryl. I want this covered up."

* * *

_**from: Negan** _

_Do you want me to pick you up when I get off work?_

**_to: Negan_ **

_That sounds great!_

Rick texted Negan the address of the hotel and sipped at the tumbler of whiskey that he'd gotten from the bar. He was sitting at it, Daryl next to 'd lied and told Maggie and Michonne that Rick and Daryl were out with some of Daryl's friends from his hometown and Daryl's boyfriend. Paul was, luckily, in town to visit Daryl so they actually had a legitimate reason to be seeming to go out.

However, Daryl would be out with Paul while Rick was out with Negan. It was complicated, trying to fabricate stories when he went out, but Rick liked being somewhere on his own for a while. Even if Abraham could track his phone and would be following.

Rick kind of wished he could just tell Abraham to fuck off, but he knew the man wouldn't, and he's actually had an attempt on his life at one point. Thus the reason for having bodyguards. Someone so well known for basically just having sex is bound to have a few overzealous admirers.

"Do you like Negan?" Rick asked Daryl, downing the rest of his alcohol.

"I don't know him at all." Daryl said honestly and flagged down the bartender.

"Hmmm. I like him."

"That's all that matters."

Rick's glass was refilled as was Daryl's and they sat in fairly amiable silence for a moment.

"How did you know you liked Paul?" Rick asked suddenly, anxiously staring at his phone screen and waiting for a text from Negan.

"He just... I don't know Rick. He cares about me.  _Really_ cares, not like all of Philip's men. They don't really care about you."

Another long bout of silence before Rick's phone lit up and it was Negan saying that he was parked across the street from the main entrance of the hotel. Rick said a quick goodbye to Daryl and texted Abraham that he was leaving before exiting the hotel.

Negan drove a modest car. It wasn't exceptionally flashy, but it wasn't old or beat up or anything, and Rick had to jay walk across the street to get to it. Led Zeppelin was playing quietly when he got in and Negan smiled at him.

"Hey, that's a fancy ass hotel you're staying in there." Negan commented and Rick buckled his seat belt, shoving his phone under one leg. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a large red head exiting the hotel as well.

"I suppose. Their bar sucks though." He said. It didn't really, Rick was just trying to make conversation.

Once Negan pulled back into traffic he picked up another conversation and Rick didn't even question where they were going. "So, you had a pretty crazy night last night?"

Rick's fingertips ghosted over where Carol had expertly covered up his black eye and he nodded. "Yeah a couple friends and I hit the town and we probably got a little too drunk." He gave small, forced laugh at the end of that and Negan shot him a bit of a look.

"Oh, well I guess that's what people do when they're in new cities." Negan responded and took an on-ramp onto the freeway. It was nearing five o'clock so the traffic was pretty bad. "Did you bring friends with you on a business trip or did you already know people in the city?"

Rick once again felt exhausted with not being able to just tell Negan the simple explanation to all these questions and instead having to make something up. "Oh well, work friends, you know. Probably why I got too drunk, not very fun to deal with those people."

Negan did crack a small smile at that and nodded.

They kept up an easy conversation for the rest of the drive about some sports team that Rick didn't really know much about, but tried to learn about from Negan. The man seemed to really like baseball, and while Rick didn't like sports that much, he was interested in hearing Negan talk about it because he sounded so impassioned.

By the time they pulled up to the restaurant Rick felt much more versed in the world of sports, and he honestly didn't want to get out of the car and walk into the restaurant, for fear of ending their conversation.

Negan found a parking spot and they both got out, Negan slinging an arm casually over Rick's shoulders as they walked up to the building. It looked casual but not entirely culchie. Rick was glad that Daryl had let him comb through his clothing again because he was dressed just perfectly for the venue. Rick leaned slightly into Negan's side with a happy smile on his face.

It was packed inside and Rick raised his eyebrows at the noise. Almost every table was filled and there was a bar in the middle with televisions playing some sports games. "Sorry for the noise, the food makes up for it." Negan promised and Rick nodded as a waitress led them to a table near the back. It was still fairly loud, and Rick was so close to the person sitting at the table behind him that he could almost touch them, but it just made him closer to Negan. Their knees brushed against each other under the table and Rick found that he could hear Negan just fine with all the noise going on around them.

"Can I get you guys any drinks?" A new waitress asked, this one small and blonde, and bouncier than the last one, much more energetic.

"A Corona." Negan ordered and she nodded at him writing it down.

"A vodka, neat." Rick ordered when she looked at him.

"Can I see your I.D please?"

Rick froze for a moment and his cheeks heated up. "Oh, uh, never mind. I forgot my wallet. Just a glass of water."

She nodded at the two of them and then bounced off.

Negan raised an eyebrow at him. "Weren't you holding it when you got in the car?"

Rick couldn't really find any reason to lie about this one, and even then he wasn't entirely sure what he would say. "I'm only twenty." He responded, face still a little red. He couldn't remember the last time that he hadn't been able to order a drink, people just didn't question him, they weren't  _allowed_ to question him. It made Rick angry and he kind of wanted to argue with the waitress, but he didn't want to cause a scene. He was exceptionally good at causing scenes.

Negan's hands seemed to falter on the menu that he was looking at, freezing for a moment. "Twenty? Didn't you say you were out at bars last night?"

"I'm uh, I'm pretty well known. I'm not usually turned down." Rick had certainly gotten himself into a hole and had absolutely no idea to get himself out of it.

"Well known in... Real Estate? At twenty years old?"

"I don't know what to tell you."

"It just sounds like there's some thing you don't  _want_ to tell me. And that's fine, but boy does it make your stories fucking confusing. And it makes you interesting as hell." Negan said and he smiled at Rick, putting him instantly at ease. "But I can't believe you're only twenty. You sure your okay going out with me? I'm almost twice your age."

"No, no, I definitely don't mind. I mean if you don't mind all my mysteriousness, then I certainly don't mind your age." He responded quickly sending Negan a smile right back.

* * *

"So, should I take you back to the hotel?" Negan asked, they were already on the freeway after dinner and hadn't even taken a moment to discuss where they were going.

Rick thought for a moment, trying to figure out where all of his usual suave and confidence had gone. Trying to remember what he would be doing right now if he was being paid.

He sured himself up for a moment and then reached his hand over the center console and gripping Negan's thigh softly. "Or we could go back to your house?" Rick said slyly. He would have just suggested Negan come with him to the hotel, but then he would also have to explain why a twenty year old "realtor" had the most expensive room in one of the most expensive hotels.

Negan seemed surprised for a moment and then he put his hand over Rick's, squeezing tightly, which caused Rick's hand to close tighter around Rick's thigh. "My house sounds good."

Rick kept his hand there for the rest of the drive and they didn't really talk much. It seemed like they didn't have anything that needed to be talked about.

When they pulled into Negan's garage Rick didn't want to take his hand away, Negan looked over at Rick who was still gripping his thigh and reached with his free hand to cup Rick's face, pulling him in for a kiss over the center console.

Rick had kissed a lot of people in the front seat of a car, he'd done a lot more than that, but for some reason this was completely different. Rick felt himself leaning into the kiss, his hand came off of Negan's thigh and gripped at his shoulder near the crook of his neck, pulling Negan further into the kiss.

When Rick leaned forward a little, his elbow slipped on the center console and he and Negan's teeth clack against each other uncomfortably. Rick pulled away, immediately embarrassed. He was expecting to get yelled at, to be told to find his own way home.

Negan leaned back a bit and grinned at Rick. "Maybe we should move this inside." He suggested and Rick didn't move for a moment, letting Negan's words process, and then he smiled back at him nodding.

They made their way in the house, Rick had barely any idea of where Negan was leading him until he landed on Negan's bed with the man crawling on top of him and straddling Rick's legs.

Rick brought his arms up around Negan's sides and back, feeling the taut muscles obscured under his shirt and jacket. Negan's hands were working at unbuttoning Rick's buttons down shirt and as more of the buttons got undone Negan pressed kisses down Rick's chest, sucking and biting his way down until the shirt was finally off and Rick had to shift so that it could slide off of his arms.

"Mmm, yours off too." Rick mumbled out, bucking his hips up into Negan's and letting the man leave marks up and down his body.

"Telling me what to do now?" Negan questioned and Rick froze up again, but then realized it was a joke and breathed out, maybe a little too harsh. He was too used to black tie kind of guys wanting him to be sexy, mostly silent, and compliant.

"Maybe I am." Rick responded realizing that Negan had no pre-disposed notions about him, Rick was a blank slate, just being himself-and Negan seemed to like that, seemed to like Rick.

Negan grined at him and sat up on Rick's legs, slipping his jacket off and then pulling his shirt over his head. Rick let out an audible groan when he saw just how sculpted Negan's chest was.

Soon Negan was unbuttoning Rick's pants and pulling his shoes off hastily, trying to get the man all the way naked. "God  _damn,_ you are fucking beautiful." Negan stared down at him and Rick felt himself blush again before Negan went back in to crash their lips together, their tongues pressing against each other as both men pressed against one another.

Negan's jeans were rough against his skin though so Rick reached his hands down and fiddled with his pants until he got them unbuttoned and Negan did the rest of the work. And they were both completely bare and Rick could feel Negan's cock pushing up against his own, sending warm shoots of pleasure up through his body.

Rick moved his lips to Negan's jaw line, feeling the scratch of his beard as he nipped and kissed over to the mans ear. Negan was reaching over to his nightstand, pulling something out of one of the drawers, Rick saw that it was a bottle of lube. "Can I?" Negan whispered, husky and low right into Rick's ear.

"Mmm, mhmm." Rick moaned out, barely able to form words as Negan's body rolled against his own just perfectly.

Negan drizzled some of the lube onto his fingers and then reached down in between Rick's legs. Rick spread his legs a little for ease of access as Negan trailed his finger around his opening. Rick was used to having sex, but he wasn't used to people taking their time with him, being  _gentle._

Finally Negan pressed one finger inside of him and Rick keened into the touch, his red cock dribbling a little bit of precum. Another finger entered and Rick squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. "So good, that's so good." He mumbled, surprised that it had even come out as audible.

"You like that baby?" Negan asked, looking up at him with lust clouded eyes, but the smile he gave Rick was real and genuine, it put Rick at ease and completely calmed him.

Rick could only moan his response as a third finger was entered and scissored inside of him. " _Yeah,_ I'm ready for you." He groaned, eyes half lidded.

Negan removed his fingers and Rick heard the crinkling of a condom wrapper, and then Negan's cock was pressed up against his hole. Rick let his body relax as he pushed inside. Rick gripped at Negan's shoulders, probably leaving red marks with his fingernails.

Rick pushed back against Negan's cock as the man bottomed out and Rick had never felt so full before. He bounced himself slightly, trying to get Negan to move. When the man finally did, Rick let out a long and drawn out moan, his voice devolving into litanies of vowel sounds and half formed 'negans'.

One of Negan's hands was wrapped halfway around Rick's thin stomach, and the other one was braced on the bed as Negan pushed fast and hard into Rick's hole. Rick moaned everytime he felt Negan pushed all the way into him again, setting up a rhythm.

A hand that Rick had had on Negan's shoulder moved to his chin and Rick pulled him in for another kiss, this one was much sloppier than the others and they could barely even keep their lips together as Negan pushed into him, but Rick didn't want to ever stop kissing Negan.

Without much warning Rick came and Negan could feel the hot liquid spraying on his stomach, which made him kiss Rick harder, more turned on then ever. It was only a few more thrusts before he reached orgasm as well.

They stayed locked together for a moment, kissing each other leisurely, before Negan pulled out. He tied off the condom and threw it away in a nearby trash can as Rick regained his breathing. "Let me grab a rag, I'll be right back." He promised and then gave Rick the delectable sight of his firm ass as he walked into the joining bathroom.

He returned with a damp rag and gently ran it over Rick's stomach where his cum had only begun to dry, and then he let the rag fall to the floor and climbed all the way into the bed with Rick, circling his arms around him.

Rick burrowed into Negan's arms and into the covers of the bed. "Thank you." Rick whispered.

"Whatever for?" Negan responded, pressing a kiss to the top of Rick's head.

Rick didn't answer, just closed his eyes and eventually fell asleep.


	5. Boys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah so i accidentally deleted this whole story and had to repost it ugh. I couldn't remember what my summary was either and this one kinda sucks  
> -sorry i haven't updated in forever life is crazy yo  
> -i would really appreciate some extra love on this chapter because all of you guyses awesome reviews and kudos have been deleted :(  
> -and i just realized i lost everyone who had subbed to this story and shit..... aahahhahahah this sucks

"Rick, shh, you don't have to wake up, I just have to get ready for work." Negan whispered, brushing his fingers through Rick's hair gently after he had stirred as Negan slid out of bed.

"Hmm, work?" Rick mumbled under his breath, pulling the blankets tight around his body.

"First class is at 7:30. Do you need to be up by any time?" Negan asked, keeping his voice soft and only turning on one lamp in the room so that he hopefully didn't wake Rick up too much.

"No... I don't think so." Rick said, his voice confused and very low. He couldn't quite remember if he had anything to do today.

Negan turned to flash him a small smile but then stopped in his tracks when he caught sight of Rick's face. "What's that on your eye?" Negan asked, stepping closer to the bed and reaching out his hand, brushing the pad of his thumb very lightly over the subtle bruising. "I didn't do that in my sleep, did I?"

"No, no." Rick brought his own hand up to touch his face. "It's from the other night. I covered it up with makeup for our date is all. Got punched." He recollected and Negan frowned slightly before pulling away, not wanting to touch it again an exacerbate it.

"You punch him back?" Negan asked, walking into his closet and dropping all pretenses of trying to be quiet so Rick could go back to sleep. Rick was still laying down, but in a way that didn't impair his speaking.

Rick made a small 'no' sounds and pulled the blankets up to his chin. He wished he knew who had hit him. He'd probably have them kicked out of Philip's clubs for the rest of their life.

"You want me to go punch him?" Negan joked, walking out of his closet in a pair of jeans and button down, neatly tucked into his pants. He put a casual suit jacket over top and Rick smiled at him.

"Nope! Want you to give me a kiss." He said, rather petulantly. But he was young, and still very, very tired. There was no way he was staying awake after Negan left.

"This is what I get for finding a younger man." Negan mock complained and walked back over to the bed. He rested a knee on it and leaned, hovering over Rick and pressing his lips against Rick's.

When Negan pulled away Rick heard the patter of steps on stairs, little steps and Rick's interest piqued a bit.

A dog nosed her way into the room and stared in confusion at a foreign person in her owners bed, looking between Negan and then Rick several times.

"Who's this then?" Rick asked as Negan seemed entirely unbothered by the dogs appearance.

"Oh! Sorry. This is Lucille, Lucy. She's nice, loves new people so sorry if she jumps on you." Negan quickly explained and then checked the time on his phone. "Shit, I have to go. You can leave whenever you want. Feel free to borrow any clothes as long as you're planning on coming back. Any food in the fridge is yours." Negan explained quickly, grabbing a leather satchel from one of his chairs and slinging it over his shoulder.

"Of course I'll be back." Rick promised, earning a smile from Negan.

After the man left the room Lucy jumped up on the bed, curling up by Rick, and Rick fell back asleep.

* * *

Rick woke up closer to eleven and had Lucille was snuggled up against him, her head resting on Rick's stomach.

He stared down at her for a moment and raised a tentative hand, setting it on her shoulders. Rick hadn't had a dog growing up, hadn't really had much. Daryl and Paul had a dog but Rick had never met it before. Maggie had grown up on a farm but Rick had never even seen the farm before.

He wasn't used to animals but Lucy just raised her head a little and opened her eyes halfway. Then she rested her head back down and went back to bed. Rick wanted to do so as his whole body was tired, but he also felt slightly nauseous and generally achy all over.

Lucille wasn't happy that Rick got up but she hopped up with him and Rick realized he was still completely naked as the blanket fell off of him. Rick's clothing wasn't on the floor where he expected to be, instead his phone and a short note were on the end table.

The note read:  _Rick, threw your clothes into the wash with mine. You can borrow some of mine or just put them in the dryer. I'll be home around 4-5 -N_

Rick slid the note behind the case of his phone and quickly checked the charge and any messages he might have. It was at 15% which was pretty good for not charging all night. He'd gotten a text from Maggie sometime last night that just reminded him he had a place to be tonight at 7 pm. But other than that he was free for the day.

He felt panic rush through him when he remembered what had been in his pocket last night and he hurriedly looked around the room for his wallet. It was  _also_ on the night table and Rick opened the bifold, glad to see that his small baggie of coke was still in there. Rick let out a small sigh of relief and pulled the packet out, clenching it in his fist.

Lucille was right around Rick's feet as he set the bag down and opened Negan's closet. He pulled out a white bathrobe that he would feel comfortable strolling the empty house in to find the washer and dryer.

Turning to leave the closet Rick caught sight of himself in the floor length mirror and he paused. Rick flicked the light on and cringed immediately. The bathrobe was open around his chest and he could see two huge hickeys right below his collar bone, and a few others up and down his chest in lighter shades. His black eye paled in comparison to those. It was totally against Philip's rules for Rick to be marked up, and Rick agreed with that. If everyone he slept with was allowed to give him hickeys then he would be absolutely covered.

Rick brought his fingers up to the hickeys and found that he honestly didn't really mind them. They reminded him of everything that he'd done with Negan and he broke out into a small, tentative smile at the thought of spending more time with Negan.

Hearing his phone vibrating, Rick closed his bathrobe and answered his phone as he walked out of the bedroom and went to find the washer and dryer.

"Hello?" Rick said into the phone, Lucy trailing after his feet.

"Hey It's Negan. I'm in between classes right now. I'm having some friends over tonight around six, so I'm wondering what your plans are?" Negan asked and Rick could hear loud noises on the other side of the phone, obviously a bunch of teenagers in school hallways.

"Oh, I have work at 7 so I'll clear out by then." Rick cradled his phone between his ear and shoulder as he changed out the laundry.

"Alright, work at 7? Right,  _mysterious,_ you should come over when you get done, however late that is."

"I don't want to impose when your friends are around." Rick rushed out and headed back up to the bedroom, feeling himself start to get nauseous once again.

Rick pulled the baggie of cocaine off of the table and pulled a credit card out of his wallet.

"You wouldn't be imposing at all. You think I don't want to show my friends what a hot hunk I landed?" Negan got quieter as he spoke, obviously there were students in his class room.

The sentiment made Rick smile, "alright, alright, but I think I'm going to be out all night." Rick explained.

"Al _right_ let me know when you can hang out next this week." Negan said and Rick promised that he would before hanging the phone up.

He cut the coke into two lines and pulled up Carol's contact after they were both gone. Rick got rid of the rest of it off the table and all the remnants gone.

"This is Carol?" She said from her side of the phone and Rick wandered back down into the kitchen. Negan's house was pretty small, but Rick hadn't really been expecting much from a teacher. It was nice though, very clean and polished.

"Hey it's Rick. Can I come to your house?" He asked bluntly, pulling open Negan's fridge and looking dininterestedly through the contents. He wasn't all that hungry, just felt like he  _should_ eat.

There was a long pause on her side of the phone and Rick feared she was just going to hang up. "Can I ask... Why?"

"I can't go back to the hotel until I get these hickeys covered up and I think Maggie's just generally mad at me." He explained and walked towards the foye of the house, he peered out the blinds and saw Abraham's car parked across the street, the windows were tinted so no one could see in but Rick recognized it. He wondered idly if Abraham had been there all night, or if maybe Sasha had come at some point and relieved him.

"Rick my daughter and husband are here." She explained and Rick heard the shrill sound of the dryer signal.

"I look real respectable, I got a damn button down. And I'm good with kids."

"I bet you ain't."

"Yeah you're right I'm not. But  _please_." He emphasized, turning the phone onto speaker and setting it on top of the dryer so he could get dressed.

"Fine, yeah fine. I'll text you my address."

Carol hung up first and Rick put the phone in his back pocket. He felt ready to go, his body pumping with some kind of adrenaline, or less natural drug.

He finicked for a moment with if he should lock the door behind him, or if he should have fed Lucille, or folded Negan's clothes or something. Finally he just pulled the door shut behind him, locked, and made his way over to Abraham's card which started up as soon as he saw Rick.

Abraham unrolled his window. "You need me to call Jerry?" He asked and sounded kind of tired but had a mcdonalds bag and a large coffee next to him so at least he'd eaten.

"No, no, I want you to drive me." Was all the explanation Rick gave before sliding into the passenger seat and plugging Carol's address into the GPS.

* * *

"Hi Rick, come in, come in." Carol ushered him into the door. Carol's house was pretty large, and in a nice suburb. The garden was done up all nice and it looked freshly cleaned. The television was on in another room is what he immediately noticed.

"Hey Carol. Thanks for letting me come over." He said and nodded at her.

"Let's just go to the master bathroom and I'll clean you up." She walked behind him and ushered him through the house. When they passed the living room a man was sitting on the couch, watching TV, obviously too drunk to even really notice Rick in the house judging by all the empty beer cans on the floor.

"Where's your daughter?" He asked when they got to the bathroom. Carol put the toilet lid down and sat Rick down there, opening up a closet and pulling out a rather giant box that looked like it belonged in a salon.

"She stayed home sick from school today." Carol explained and told Rick to take off his shirt.

Carol pulled out an airbrush set for the foundation along with just about every shade of color corrector that they made. "What grade is she in?"

"Fifth. Her name's Sophia."

Carol quickly got to work on the hickeys. She covered them in several different color correctors, a powder concealer, and then got the airbrush going for the final part of the cover up.

"Mom!" Came a yell from somewhere in the house and Carol rushed to turn off the airbrush.

"I'll be right back."

Rick was left waiting in the bathroom while Carol went to help her sick daughter. After a few minutes past he got bored and stood up, wandering through the house. He made sure to stay away from the living room because Carol probably wouldn't appreciate it if her husband saw a shirtless guy walking around the house.

Towards the back of the house Rick heard quiet voices talking and the familiar sounds of a Disney movie playing.

Sophia was laying in a pink bed with Carol sitting on the edge with a hand on her forehead.

When Carol noticed that he was standing there she looked momentarily annoyed with him. "Sophia honey this is Rick. He works with me." She explained and Sophia timidly waved her hand at him but looked kind of shy and uncomfortable.

"Oh uh, hi." Rick responded and smiled at the little girl. Rick hadn't had a lot of experience with children in his life.

"If you're going to wander around my house, can you go to the kitchen and there's a pot of soup on the stove. Bring back a bowl." Carol urged him and Rick wasn't used to being ordered around, but this all felt so domestic. Aside from the fact that he was shirtless and only had half of Carol's make up done, he could almost feel like he was Sophia's older brother or something and their mom was telling him what to do.

The kitchen wasn't far and after a little bit of searching Rick found the bowls, then a spoon, then ladled some of the home made chicken soup into a bowl, padding back to Sophia's room and setting it on her night table.

He stared down at the little girl for a moment and Carol looked up at him oddly. "Sorry, I'll just go back to the bathroom." He said finally and Carol nodded at him.

It was a few minutes later and then Carol got back to work on his chest. After the airbrushing was finished she set everything with a powder and ran her finger along it a few times just to make sure nothing was going to come off. Thankfully she'd also covered Rick's eye up so he should be good for tonight.

"This is probably going to chafe if you wear anything over it for a long time. Shouldn't be too hard to go without a shirt or something tonight, right?" She asked.

Rick shook his head, "no, that should be fine. Thanks for this." He said and took a look at himself in the mirror. There were spots on his chest that were still slightly discolored but Rick could probably only tell because he knew what he was looking for.

"Hey mom?" Sophia's voice came again and this time Rick followed behind Carol to the little girls room.

"What is it sweetheart?" Carol took her seat back on the bed and Sophia coughed a little bit.

"Can you read me more Harry Potter?" She asked. Rick figured that Sophia was definitely old enough to read for herself, but he thought it was sweet that she still wanted her mom to do that for her. Rick had grown up in a pretty broken house, so he couldn't remember the last time he'd been read to.

"Sure, of course."

However, just as soon as Carol had picked up the book, she heard a crash from what sounded like the living room. Carol looked torn between going out there and staying here with Sophia, and she also looked slightly panicked.

"I can read to her, go see what that was." Rick offered and took the book from Carol's grip. She nodded at him with a tight smile.

"Is it cool if I read to you Sophia?" Rick asked, taking a seat on a plush bean-bag chair and leaning back in it.

The little girl just nodded at him very minutely.

Rick had never actually read Harry Potter, but he turned to the page that was dog eared and got started reading. After a few pages, Sophia politely stopped him. "Hey Rick, my mom does different voices for everyone. Can you do that?"

It was an honest enough request and Rick tried to accommodate. He heard what sounded like hushed yelling from further in the house and so Rick spoke louder himself, trying to drown out that noise.

He hadn't read a book in a long time, and he found himself getting absorbed in it. Even though he'd started halfway through he knew enough of the gist to understand what was going on. It was good, and Sophia listened at tentatively, laughing at jokes or when Rick did a particularly funny voice. He liked her esteem and it made him want to read more.

"Rick?" Sophia stopped him again, this time she was whispering. "Do you like my mom?"

"Yeah, I like her just fine." Rick whispered back to her, unsure of why they were doing that.

"Good."

"Why do you ask?"

"My dad says that no one likes her." Sophia shrugged her shoulders and didn't elaborate and it took Rick aback, made him reel a bit.

He picked up his reading from where he'd left off but didn't really understand what Sophia had meant by that. Why would Carol's husband be telling Sophia things like that? Rick found himself stumbling on a few words and drew himself from those thoughts so that he could focus more on the book.

There was a bit of extra loud shouting from Carol and her husband and Rick felt his blood run slightly cold in apprehension, but he once again spoke louder and drowned it out.

The yelling ended with a door slamming and then a few moments later Carol reappeared in the room with a smile on her face, but her eyes were watery and Rick stared at her for a long moment.

"Rick's reading to me mom, I don't need you to." Sophia said almost as soon as she walked in.

"Oh, well I think Rick probably has work he has to go do." Carol discreetly wiped her eyes.

"I, well, I don't actually. I could stay a little longer, if that's okay?"

Rick ended up staying almost the whole day. He helped Carol make lunch for Sophia, read the book to her for longer, and then gave Carol a little help in the garden under her watchful eye and command.

He didn't question her about the yelling and the crying, he knew that he should but he didn't know how to broach the subject. Maybe he would talk to Daryl about it, Daryl seemed to know her.

All too soon though, it was getting late and Rick had to go. He had to leave this fantasy land that he'd created between Carol and Negan's house, and go back to the cold reality of his own real world.


	6. Ask Me Why

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -marijuana usage in this chapter. tho honestly that's mild compared to ricks other shit  
> -owowoooooOOOooooO Ezekiel's back,,,,, who is he????? what a mystery!!

Rick was dressed a mixture of extravagance and silly. It was another bar night, but this one was much more casual and party scene than the last. He'd pulled a knee length leather skirt out of his closet. He wasn't quite sure why he owned it, but it was a statement piece and there would probably be a lot of people in leather at the bar tonight. Over top of it he had on a button up Tommy Bahama shirt, all the way open so it wouldn't rub against his carefully placed concealer.

"I only want half of one." Rick said staring at Daryl who was fumbling with a plastic bag.

"I don't know how the fuck I'm gonna get it in half." Daryl retorted.

Abraham handed him a small pocket knife and Daryl took it. He set the hard candy on the back of his phone and pushed down with the knife, severing it in half. "Here you go princess, one half of an edible."

Rick poked it with his finger, the soluble scrap sticking to his finger and then coming off easily on his tongue. "I don't want to be out all night. This is shitty weed in the first place so I figure half a piece lands me 5, 6 hours tops." Rick didn't take edibles very often, and it wasn't that it was  _shitty_ perse, it just wasn't super potent. And Rick appreciated that, he could at least keep some of his wits about him.

They pulled up outside the club and Rick could already kind of feel the music pumping out of it. They were in a fairly unpopulated area though so Rick figured that noise wasn't an issue.

He exited the car with Daryl very shortly behind him, and when they entered the club it was immediately too hot. There were hundreds of people shoved into the club and all the body heat generated made Rick immediately uncomfortable.

"Rick!" He heard a voice call and Rick turned sharply to follow the noise but his body felt like he was movie through water, and then all at once the slow motion versions of himself all slammed into his stagnant self and he stuttered on his feet a bit.

It was Ezekiel calling his name from over the top of several people. Rick headed absently towards him and was shoved up against the man unceremoniously and Ezekiel chuckled as he gripped Rick by the forearms and held him at arms length away.

"Would you like a drink?" Ezekiel asked him and Rick nodded, not quite finding the words to correctly answer him. "What's your drink?" Ezekiel asked, whisking them both to the bar, Rick following rather limply behind.

"Vodka double, straight up." He responded, his voice lazy and slow.

Ezekiel ordered both of their drinks, and told the bartender to put it on the hosts tab. "Can we go out back Rick?"

Rick stiffened up a little and gripped his drink. He leaned against Ezekiel a little. "Course we can. Change your mind?"

"Not for that Rick, not for that. I want to talk to you." He said and led Rick again to the back doors of the club.

Rick was confused slightly by the request but followed Ezekiel out anyway. When they were in the alleyway there was no one else standing around but still Ezekiel pulled them into a slightly secluded corner and Rick wondered if maybe Ezekiel got off by denying what they were going to do or something.

"You said you work for Philip Blake?"

"Yeah, obviously." Rick downed his two shots in one single throw back and then set the cup on some bricked in window ledge next to them. He'd probably forget it there.

"Who else?"

"No one. Just Philip." He explained and narrowed his eyes slightly at Ezekiel.

"What about Simon?"

"I don't  _work_ for Simon. Simon works for Philip. No one is fucking in charge of me other than Philip? Why do you care?" Rick felt slightly ornery with all the weird questions. He didn't like talking about the specifics of his job.

Ezekiel flitted his eyes up and down the alley one time quickly before basically whispering his next words. "Is Philip moving bricks of cocaine?"

Rick shoved at Ezekiel's shoulder. "It's none of your fucking business." Rick turned to walk away but Ezekiel grabbed his wrist before he could.

"I think you  _are_ Philip's business and how would he feel if I told him you were sharing your services for free?" Ezekiel asked and at Rick's confused stare he elaborated. "I know you went out with that man last night and didn't go back to the hotel. I know he doesn't have any ties to Philip."

Rick froze up a bit and yanked his wrist out of Ezekiel's grip. "Hey you're asking the wrong person man, I don't know anything. Nothing. He doesn't tell me anything, he just whores me around and keeps me in the dark."

Ezekiel let go of his wrist and then Rick was pushing back through the crowd of people, desperately searching for Abraham or Sasha.

Finally he found Sasha, she was leaned up against a back wall with a pair of sunglasses on. They weren't a very peculiar sight in the already gaudy club. "Sasha!"

She immediately went alert, pulling her glasses off and looking down at Rick with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm leaving. Call Jerry." He told her and she didn't think to question his decision, just nodded and pulled her phone out.

"It's gonna be like thirty minutes boss." She warned and Rick nodded.

"I'll be out front."

Rick knew that she probably followed him some way and so when he was standing out front in the slightly brisk night air he knew that he wasn't all alone, she was around somewhere.

He pulled a cigarette and a lighter out of his breast pocket and lit it with a click that filled the night air. His head was full of cotton and he was shaking slightly. Rick looked over his shoulder once, half expecting Ezekiel of Philip to be there.

Rick stood basically in the same spot for the whole thirty minutes until Jerry arrived, and then he got into the limo with no entourage.

"We waiting for everyone else?" Jerry asked, unrolling the privacy screen.

"No." Rick responded tersely, crossing one leg over the other.

"Are you sure?"

"It's my limo."

* * *

Rick had told Jerry to take him back to the hotel and they were halfway there when Rick received a text from Negan.

**From: Negan**

_How's your night going?_

**To: Negan**

_not good! headed to my hotel_

**From: Negan**

_Why don't you come to my place? I give a killer massage._

**To: Negan**

_arent ur friends over? I'm not dressed very respectablyy_

**From: Negan**

_Nonsense. I'm sure you look great. And it's almost nine so they'll probably head home soon._

**To: Negan**

_ok i guess i can come over... but i'm warning u i look like trash._

Rick quickly told Jerry to alter course and the man agreed without sound. Rick could tell that Jerry seemed slightly put off about the fact that they'd seemingly left most everyone else behind, but Rick didn't give a shit, they could find their own way back.

**From: D**

_yo did you fucking leave us at the club?_

**To: D**

_jerry is taking me somewhere then he can get you guys_

**From: D**

_Rick you realize there's people here that Philip expected you to go home with_

Rick didn't respond to that, he just crossed one of his legs over the other and let the phone fall out of his grip and he leaned back in his seat.

"Do you want me to drop you off a little ways away or right up front?" Jerry asked and Rick had to physically work to make his body move and sit up. He felt like most of his joints cracked, but that was probably all in his head.

"Fuck it. I'm showing up in a skirt with bright red eyes, may as well be dropped off front row in a limo." Rick mumbled and scooped his phone into his pocket.

He turned a light on in the back of the limo and was able to see that his eyes were indeed a light shade of pink around his otherwise bright blue irises. Rick rubbed his forehead slightly. Weed wasn't legal in Georgia, but it wasn't like people didn't smoke it. Rick hoped that Negan wouldn't be too pissed that he was kind of obviously high.

Jerry pulled up behind one other car and Rick could see lots of lights on in Negan's house, and Lucille leaned against the window, barking at the appearance of a new car. Negan's face suddenly appeared at the window too, looking to see what was causing the disturbance.

"Thanks Jerry." Rick barely forced out and moved through time to get out of the limo, his whole body was tingling now and he had serious dry mouth.

The door was opened for Rick before he even got up to the front porch and Negan was standing there with one eyebrow raised, Lucille just behind him.

"When you told me you weren't dressed respectably this is not what I imagined." Negan commented. Rick had at least buttoned up his shirt, but it didn't really make the outfit any better.

"Shit I know I'm sorry. I didn't have time to change." He explained quickly as he made it up to the door. Negan didn't move out of the door frame for a moment and Rick was worried that he was going to be turned away.

"Shit no, don't be sorry Rick. I fucking  _like_ it." Negan brushed a thumb over Rick's cheek and Rick raised his eyebrows in surprise, his eyes widening and showcasing just how red they were.

"O-oh, well I'm glad you do." He said, feeling kind of shy under Negan's intense gaze.

"And you showed up in a damn limo? I thought you were supposed to be at a work thing tonight."

Negan moved aside then, letting Rick walk into the foyer of the house. He could hear voices talking further in the house and Lucille jumped up lightly on Ricks' skirt, letting her tongue fall out of her mouth happily at the sight of him.

"I, I uh-"

"You don't have to answer. Sorry. I'll introduce you to my friends, well, coworkers actually." Negan said and hooked his arm through Rick's, pulling him along through the living room and all the way back into the kitchen where three people sat around an island with cans of beer.

"Hey everyone this is Rick. Guy I told you about, remember? Rick this is Rosita, Eugene, and Dwight." Each one raised their hand or offered a smile to Rick as Negan introduced them.

"Nice to meet you." Rick said, softly and timidly. He wasn't usually shy in front of new people, but he wanted Negan's friends to like him.

Negan pulled Rick along into a seat beside him. Eugene and Rosita were across from him and Dwight sat at one of the ends, closer to Negan.

"Looks like you had some fun before you came." Rosita said, raising a manicured eyebrow at his bloodshot eyes.

"I, yeah, sorry I, it was offered so..." Rick forced out, feeling himself fumble over words through his mouth that was altogether too dry and also salivating at the same time.

Rosita laughed softly. "I'm not judging, you look like you're having a good fucking time." She commented and Rick smiled slightly at her.

"Let me grab you a beer." Dwight offered and reached behind himself to where the case of Keystone Light sat on a counter top, he pulled a can out and set it in front of Rick.

Rick held it in his hands for a moment, it was lukewarm, and suddenly, feeling a bubbling energy and urge to speak coming through him he admitted: "I've never had a beer before."

Negan almost choked on his beer at the admonition.

Rosita laughed again. "You come in here high and you've never had a  _beer_? What are you twelve?"

"Twenty." Rick retorted.

" _Twenty?_ Wow Neg, nice going." Rosita commented and Negan casually flipped her off.

"I have some vodka in the freezer, that more your taste?" Negan offered and Rick shook his head.

"No, I'll try this. And I've already had some to drink tonight." He said and crapped open the tab on the beer. It wasn't that good, probably would have been better if it was cold, but he sipped on it anyway.

Conversation carried on around him for a while and Rick looked between everyone as they spoke. First they talked about Negan's youth baseball team, and then something about teacher meeting and curriculum, and then Dwight told a story about some asshole student of his.

It was a long time until conversation worked its way back around to something that Rick knew about, and even then he only joined in because Eugene asked him a question.

"What high school did you go to Rick?" Eugene asked, kind of suddenly.

"Well I went to Foothill in Santa Ana through my sophomore year. Then I went to an online school and then I kind of... Fizzled out." Rick said and his cheeks turned slightly pink.

"Fizzled out?" Dwight question, he was probably the drunkest of them all, though Negan had also had quite a bit to drink and had a hand perpetually resting on Rick's thigh under the skirt.

"I dropped out. Never finished." He finally forced out and felt incredibly embarrassed. Here he was sitting at a table of high school teachers, and he'd never even fucking finished high school.

"Hey don't feel bad about that shit Rick. I dropped out senior year too and never ended up finishing until I was 19." Rosita said, and it actually did make Rick feel a little better. He could still finish if he really wanted to, it just wasn't really necessary for his 'career'.

Negan looked at him oddly for a moment but didn't comment.

"So you're from California then? What do you think about the new Governor?" Eugene asked, seeming to not even notice that Rick had just had a brief conversation with Rosita, and picking right up.

"Well, I'd probably have an opinion if I knew who they were." Rick shrugged his shoulder abashedly. "I don't spend a lot of time in California."

"Where do you spend most of your time?" Dwight chimed in and Rick kind of felt like he was being interrogated, but he understand why. These must be Negan's closest friends, and suddenly Negan had a new boyfriend that they don't know anything about and who's also almost twenty years younger than him. They must have a  _lot_ of questions.

"Everywhere. I was in Vancouver two weeks ago, Versailles before that, and then I spent a month in Moscow before  _that._ " He summed up the most recent places he had been.

"You were just in Europe and you chose to come to  _Atlanta_?" Rosita asked incredulously.

"I didn't really choose. My job takes me places."

"Negan said you worked in real estate?"

"Yeah I'm an agent for a big time company."

"What's the company?" Eugene asked and Rick wondered a little why he cared.

"Uh, Blake Co."

Dwight furrowed his brows a bit and sat up in his seat. "Did you say,  _Blake_ Co.? I must have misheard."

Rick looked down at his barely touched beer and felt anxiety brew in his stomach. He was committed to the lie now so he had to go through with it. "Yeah, that's the one." Rick could tell that Dwight knew what Blake Co. really was and Rick knew it was only a matter of time. He could only hope that Dwight wouldn't blurt it out immediately, that maybe he would wait until they were at least alone before Dwight said anything.

"What's your name again? I don't think I caught the full thing." Dwight asked.

"Rick, Rick Grimes." Rick winced even as he had to say it. Negan would call him out if he gave a fake last name, but even just his first name and 'Blake Co' would be enough to get some hits from on google. "You know what Negan I uh, I suddenly don't feel very good, I think I'm gonna go lie down." Rick said and Negan looked at him worriedly.

"Oh, alright. Are you okay? Do you need any medicine or something?" Negan asked and Rick shook his head.

"No, no, I've just already had a long night." Rick said and Negan nodded, squeezing his hip one time before Rick left the kitchen.

He took a moment to catch his breath in the hall before he went upstairs and heard Dwight excusing himself from the table as well.

Soon Dwight had joined him in the small hallway just at the base of the stairs and Lucy was sitting by Rick's legs looking up at the two of them.

"I think I know who you are." Dwight said immediately and Rick pushed himself back against the wall.

"Yeah, yeah you probably do. I'll give you anything, free of charge. Just, please don't tell Negan." Rick offered back just as quick. He just desperately didn't want things ruined between him and Negan. Sure, at some point Rick would have told Negan everything... But that was a ways off, Rick couldn't do it right now.

"He's my  _best friend._ I'm not going to fuck you it would crush him. But it would also crush him if he knew that you were fucking people on the side." Dwight explained, lowering his voice a lot so that he had to lean in near Rick for Rick to hear him.

"I know! I haven't slept around since I met him a few days ago. I swear. I know that you're his best friend, but I really like him. I'm so sorry, please don't tell him." Rick repeated and Dwight rolled back on his heels, seeming to size Rick up for a moment.

"You have to tell him at some point. He doesn't appreciate being lied to."

"He knows I'm not a real estate agent... At least I think he does. He seems to think that a lot of the stuff I tell him is bogus, and so far he doesn't mind my blatant lies. I promise I'll tell him when it starts to interfere with out relationship. I will tell him, I just can't right now." Rick tried to explain but he was so drowsy and tired and honestly needed to go lay down.

"Rick I swear to God if you cheat on him, or screw him over, or- fuck,  _anything._ You're done. He told me all about you and he seems to really like you, which is why you can't fuck him over. And don't let him figure out who you are before you tell him. It can't come from anyone else but you."

"It won't, I  _will_ tell him. Soon. I, uh, I have to go. Thank you Dwight." Rick said quickly and then made his way upstairs with Lucy tight on his heels.

When he finally collapsed onto Negan's bed he felt himself fall asleep almost immediately, he was only partially awoken during the night when Negan stripped off his clothes and crawled into bed next to him, pulling Rick tight into his arms.

Fuck, Rick really had to tell him.


	7. Please Please Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -this chapter is so long! Yay  
> -Rick has so many decisions to make :/  
> -also this story is gonna get kind of violent in a later chapter, i'll keep ya warned

Rick woke up incredibly early with the feeling of a heavy weight on his thighs. His eyes fluttered open slowly and he saw that Negan was above him, anchoring himself on an elbow and pushing a stray curl out of Rick's forehead.

"You're awake." Negan mused and Rick pulled up a hand to rub at his tired and dry eyes.

"Mmm, mmhmm." Rick mumbled and gave a lazy smile up at Negan. "Do you have to go to work soon?"

"I woke us up a little early." Negan responded with a half grin on his face.

"Ope, know what that means." Rick smiled devilishly and flipped them over so that he was straddling Negan instead.

"You're going to ride me and get a little freaky, maybe choke me a little?" Negan asked, but his voice was dripping with sarcasm and there was a huge grin on his face as he spoke.

"Oh baby, you guessed correctly! That means you get a prize." Rick joked and leaned over to the bedside table, fumbling around for the bottle of lube that had been there last time. His eyes also spied the digital clock and he was saw that it was five in the damn morning. "However, you did wake me up at five in the morning." Rick complained even as he dribbled some lube onto his fingers and ran it between his hands to warm it up a bit.

"Sorry, a need a little pick me up before work today."

Rick smirked at that and sat up on his knees over Negan, reaching his own fingers behind himself and prodding at his hole. He hadn't been fucked since Negan a couple nights ago so it took Rick a moment to work himself open. The whole time Negan was watching him with lust filled eyes and leisurely stroking his cock, bringing himself to full hardness while Rick rapidly fingered himself.

After a few moment Rick again fumbled with the table, this time looking for a condom. He rolled it down Negan's length and then positioned himself over top, slowly sinking down on Negan's cock with little pomp or circumstance.

Negan gripped harshly at Rick's hips. "Kinda miss that number you had on last night." Negan bucked his hips shallowly up into Rick, but for the most part let him set the pace.

"You missed the full effect, only buttoned up that shirt so I could convince your friends I was halfway decent." Rick groaned out, moving his body up and down on Negan.

Rick leaned forward a bit, bracing himself on one arm and leaning down to press a kiss against Negan's forehead. One of Negan's hand moved up to tweak at Rick's nipple which was basically right above his eyes.

"So you're telling me you spent part of the night in that scandalous skirt and a completely open shirt, in a bar?" Negan clarified and then he pinched Rick's nipple rather hard.

"Mmm, didn't let any of them touch me though. Only you." Rick said through moans and sat back up on Negan's dick, resting his hands nearer to Negan's navel. One hand traced up delicately and mischievously towards Negan's nipples, his slightly manicured nail raked over one and then the other. He moved his hand up towards Negan's neck with a self satisfied smirk on his face and Negan raised an eyebrow but didn't question Rick.

Rick knew what he was doing, he'd done this often enough. He wasn't totally sure if maybe Negan had been joking, but the man wasn't protesting now. Rick didn't apply pressure yet, just continued moving his hips in just the right way to make Negan groan and dig the pads of his fingers harshly into Rick's supple flesh.

When Rick could tell that Negan was starting to get close, he applied just the faintest pressure to the sides on his neck and Negan bucked his hips up unexpectedly. Rick continued to increase the pressure until Negan's cheeks were just lightly pink and then his hips stuttered and the man came into his condom, Rick eased up the pressure immediately.

"Jesus, you're fucking good at that,  _all_ of  _that._ " He emphasized and Rick let out a small laugh. He felt Negan's hand take hold of his still hard cock and in just a few strokes Rick came over Negan's chest.

"Can I go back to bed now please?" He mock complained and Negan pushed him onto his side of the bed, getting up and grabbing a rag from the bathroom.

"Yes you can go to bed now princess."

* * *

When Rick woke up he felt well rested but lethargic. His mouth was still kind of dry and his body radiated with the after affects of strong weed.

Rick had no clothing at Negan's house others than the skirt and the incredibly thin button up shirt. He hadn't even had underwear on for the majority of yesterday. So he dug through Negan's closet, looking for something that might fit him. Negan was quite a bit taller, and a good bit more muscular than Rick was, but he finally found a pair of grey shorts that he cinched with a belt and a tee shirt with Negan's alma mater printed on it.

Rick found where Negan had discarded his shoes and laced them up, also borrowing a pair of socks from the man. He found his phone plugged into the wall by the nighstand and Rick was glad for that because it had almost been dead last night.

Rifling through all of the discarded clothing, Rick realized that he didn't have his wallet or any coke on him. On the bedside table was his black Amex card, his name  _Rick Grimes_ inscribed into the side of it. Rick snatched it up off the table and bit his lip slightly. Negan must have found it on the ground at some point, probably fell out of his shallow pockets of his skirt. He remembered bringing just the card and not his wallet and Rick gripped it tightly in his hand.

He stared down at the card for a moment and then slid it into his back pocket. He had a distinct memory of when he got the card last year and had acted for weeks like it was the best thing that ever happened to him. These cards were invite only and the holder had to make a ridiculous amount of money to get one. And Rick did, he could retire right now and live at least upper middle class for the rest of his life. He made upwards of 100k dollars a night, and rarely took days off.

So Rick deserved this card, but he suddenly felt a weird sickness to his stomach at the fact that he'd been  _excited_ to receive this, had gloated to people. This was the only accomplishment to date, and how did he even get it? Being good at sex?

That was maybe his only real skill.

It was 10 in the morning and Rick walked down to the kitchen, looking around for something to eat as Lucille walked too close to his feet as usual. He felt like she was  _trying_ to trip him.

**To: Negan**

_what time's your lunch break?_

**From: Negan**

_Not really much of a "break" but it's at 12:10_

Rick didn't respond to him and instead told Lucy goodbye before exiting the house, looking for the usual black car that he knew would be parked somewhere around.

He'd never paid much attention to the neighborhood that Negan lived on. He'd never really been sober or in daylight when he saw it before. It was a cul-de-sac and all of the houses looked really nice, the lawns were perfectly trimmed. It was a Thursday morning and several little kids not quite in school yet were running around as their stay at home moms or babysitters watched them.

This street felt different from the rest of Atlanta, it was clean and refreshing and someone smiled at Rick as he walked down to the black car that Sasha was in.

She was half asleep with her head against the window and sat up suddenly after Rick knocked. Sasha rolled down the window and looked up at him.

"I need a ride." Rick said and she nodded, unlocking the passenger side door for him.

Rick slid in and told her to pull him through the Starbucks drive-thru so he could buy some semblance of lunch. He was planning on bringing Negan lunch and figured out which high school the man worked at after doing a quick dive through the staff directories of all the nearby schools.

"Hey Rick?" Sasha got his attention gently after the address for the school was punched into the map.

"What's up?" He looked up from casually scrolling through his phone, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I don't want to overstep my bounds, I just, we're all worried about you Rick..." She trailed off a little, obviously unsure of whether or not she would be yelled at for saying this kind of stuff.

"Worried about me?" Rick furrowed his brows slightly and felt a small tremor run through his body, aftershocks of cocaine withdrawal. His brow was perspiring.

"Your safety. Philip, he, you didn't see it last night Rick. He came into the club late and couldn't find you. Then he flew off the handle when we told him that you had left." She explained, the GPS momentarily interrupted their conversation.

"So I just shouldn't leave work early again?" Rick looked out the opposite window and didn't look at Sasha for the rest of the drive. He hoped that Philip hadn't hurt anyone that he was close to. If he took his wrath out on Maggie...

"It's not just that. He expects you to be around and available at all times. He stopped by the hotel yesterday afternoon just thinking that you would be there... And you weren't, none of us knew where you were. I understand that you have something going with this guy right now, you just have to decide like  _right now_ whether or not you're going to continue working for Philip."

Rick  _hmmm_ ed but didn't answer.

"I'd say you have until tomorrow afternoon to make your decision. Maggie told me you don't have anything to do tonight but Rick... Philip isn't just going to forgive you if you pull any more shit like this. It's looks bad on him if he can't find his most valuable asset."

Rick didn't say anything else for the rest of the drive, just looked out the window and tried not to make any noise.

When they rolled up at the school it was 12:02 and Sasha parked in what seemed to be a parent drop off and pick up lane.

"I'll be parked somewhere, call me when you're done." She said as Rick gathered up all of his things.

"No, don't. Don't wait for me." He held the drink carrier in his hand and slipped his phone into his back pocket, leaning into the car door.

"What do you want me to do? I can't just leave you."

"Go home."

"What?"

"Jerry said you're from Atlanta. Said your brother lives here. Go get dinner with him or something. Take the night off." He told her and Sasha looked momentarily panicked by what he was asking her.

"Rick if you get hurt I don't answer to you, I answer to Philip. I can't just leave you." She insisted.

"I'll call Abraham. Go have a really nice dinner, bring me the receipt tomorrow and I'll reimburse you."

"Why are you doing this?"

"I don't know how else to show you I appreciate you." Rick shrugged and looked down slightly, avoiding her gaze.

Sasha's eyes softened immediately. "All you have to do is tell me Rick. I don't need lavish spending or gifts. In fact, if you're so set on this, why don't I call Tyreese and we can all go for drinks when you're done here?" She offered.

Rick was a little taken aback but finally he nodded, slowly, then speeding up the pace. "Yeah, yeah okay. I'll call you when I'm done."

Sasha gave him one last smile and then he closed the door, watching her drive off.

The school was big and the first sign he saw said ' _Visitors Please Check in With the Main Office'_ so Rick followed signs until he found the office and quickly explained to them that he was bringing lunch to Negan.

Given a lanyard that said ' _VISITOR'_ on it, Rick wandered through the halls, following the numbered doorways until he found 21, Negan's room.  _Mr. Morgan_ was on a red tile above the door.

It had been a long time since Rick had been in a High School, and those weren't very good memories.

The door was closed and Rick checked his phone, he only had one minutes until the bell rang. Rick could hear quiet talking from under the door so he figured that Negan had wrapped up the lesson for the day. Rick held his fist up to the door, hesitating before knocking. He sured himself for a moment and then knocked twice on the door.

"Come in." Negan called in his deep drawl that put Rick immediately at ease.

He pushed the door open slowly and saw that Negan's desk was directly adjacent to the door so he saw Rick before any highschoolers did. Negan's eyebrows shot up clear to his hairline, but then his grin softened his features and he beckoned Rick in.

Every student in the classroom focused their eyes on Rick and he quickly took a seat in the chair that was on the side of Negan's desk, very much so feeling like he was a student in trouble.

After a moment the class went back to chatting away and then the bell rang and they all filed out.

"Well this is a surprise." Negan said, a silly grin still on his face.

"I wanted to get you some lunch." Rick slid the coffee and panini over the desk and to Negan.

"That's sweet of you. I'm sorry though I only have 35 minutes for lunch." Negan said and pulled the sandwich out of the plastic sleeve. Students were starting to filter back into Negan's classroom, eating lunch around the room and having their own conversations.

"That's fine! I didn't even ask so I can't be mad." Rick responded and took a sip of his coffee.

"Hey are those my clothes?" He asked, leaning back in his chair with one ankle on his opposite knee, eyebrow raised.

"I didn't think you'd want me to wear last nights outfit here." Rick admitted and settled in as best he could into the hard wooden chair that he was sitting in. He yearned to reach over and put his hand on Negan's knee or something, but knew that would be inappropriate.

"I like the skirt. You should wear it more often." Negan countered. "The shirt may have been inappropriate.

Rick blushed slightly at Negan's admonition. "We should go out to dinner tonight. My treat. I'll wear another one my skirts maybe." Rick teased.

"Oh shit, tonight? There's actually a neighborhood barbecue tonight and I king of promised to bring the mashed potatoes." Negan said guiltily.

Rick was slightly disappointed. "That's fine. Sorry I can't expect you to be free every night."

"I  _am_ free! I wanted to invite you to come actually. It'll be laid back because it's a Thursday."

"You want me to meet your neighbors? They probably already think I'm fucking weird." Rick complained.

"Hey high school," Negan motioned to the room and Rick made a mental note not to swear again. "And yeah I want you to meet my neighbors, they don't think you're weird. They probably think your my handsome new man." Negan joked.

"Ew you are old." Rick rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"Oh shut up, I'm not that old."

There was a wrap at the door frame and Rick turned his head around to see Rosita standing at the doorway, smirking at the two of them.

"Rick! Where's my coffee?" She asked dramatically, waltzing into the classroom and leaning against the white board by Negan's desk.

"Where  _my_ coffee? You saw the condition I was in last night." Rick smiled at her and she laughed at his sentiment. Rick liked Rosita, she honestly and truly seemed to think he was funny.

"Well you seem better today." She turned her attention to Negan. "Yo do we have a PLC tonight? Because if so I totally can't make it."

"Oh damn, we  _do._ Yeah I can't make it either." Rick didn't know what these words really meant, he assumed a teacher meeting of some sort.

"What, got a hot date?" She joked, flipping a long section of hair behind her shoulder.

"Matter of fact, I do. The  _hottest._ " Negan emphasized, motioning to Rick who blushed bright red. He was glad that none of the students were sitting close enough to hear him.

"Alright love birds have fun. I'll go find Deanna and tell her you and I both can't make it. Hey expect a good news text tonight!" She said, slowly backing out of the classroom.

"What's the good news?" Negan asked and Rick looked between them with a small smile on his face. He liked the way that Negan interacted with his friends, it was so natural and just flowed.

"Eugene and I are finding out the gender tonight." Rosita motioned to her stomach. Rick hadn't even noticed she was pregnant, her stomach was still so tiny.

"God I can't believe I forgot! Keep me updated!" Negan called as she walked out.

Rick grinned at Negan. "She's having a baby with Eugene?"

"Yeah, it's why she wasn't drinking last night."

"That's sweet." Rick said, staring off into space.

"You ever want any kids?" Negan asked him through a mouth of sandwich.

"I... I don't know, I'm not really good with kids." He shrugged.

The bell rang suddenly and Rick jumped a little. "Oh damn we're out of time. Hey by the way, do you know how to make mashed potatoes?" Negan asked and Rick shook his head quickly. "Damn, me neither. I guess we can figure it out together."

"You get off around four? What time's the barbecue?"

"Six."

"I have someone, uh my mom, yeah  _my mom._ I can ask her if she can help out, I'll text you later." Rick said and gathered up his coffee, giving Negan one last smile before leaving the class room.

* * *

Lunch with Sasha and Tyreese Williams wasn't as weird as Rick thought it would be. Tyreese knew what Rick did so it wasn't like they had to skirt around that. And Rick learned a lot about Sasha in the meantime.

Apparently she had a huge crush on Abraham which Rick would have never guessed.

Lunch took just about until two and when Rick was in Sasha's car again, he called Carol.

"Rick, hey Maggie called me the other day and said you wouldn't need my services anymore." Was the first thing Carol said, getting right to the point.

"Oh. I'm sorry I had no idea. I didn't fire you, I promise." Rick said immediately, the GPS was already taking them to Carol's house so Rick hoped that she didn't hate him or anything now.

"No, she made sure to tell me that. You really didn't know?"

"Not at all! I haven't seen Maggie in a couple days." Rick explained, he leaning his elbow against the window of the car.

"Well... Why did you call? Need another hickey covered up?" She changed her tone almost immediately to that of a sarcastically annoyed mother.

"Actually, do you make good mashed potatoes?"

"The best."

"You free right now?"

"You want me to make mashed potatoes for you right now?" She questioned and he recognized the neighborhood that they turned into, obviously nearing Carol's house.

"Uh, yeah actually. Also I told my boyfriend that you were my mom so if you could keep that lie up, that'd be great."

"That's a terrible idea, we're not going to pretend I'm your mom, but sure I'll make you mashed potatoes. When can I expect you."

"I'm outside your house right now."

* * *

It was nearing 5:15 and both Negan and Rick were just finishing cutting the last of the chives for the mashed potatoes. Most of the evening had been Carol telling them what to do as she did the majority of the work.

Carol and Negan got along really well though, and even Sophia liked him when she got home from school. Ed was nowhere to be seen, Rick didn't mention it. Carol explained almost as soon as Negan got there that she wasn't  _actually_ Rick's mom, and Negan didn't really seem to mind, so that worked out well.

Around 5:30 they had all the potatoes in a large serving bowl with ceran wrap over the top.

When they were in Negan's car, Negan put a hand on Rick's knee and sent a smile his way.

"Thanks for bringing me tonight." Rick said, setting his hand over Negan's.

"Thanks for introducing me to your "mom", she's really cool. Are you, are you leaving on Saturday?" Negan asked, his voice kind of slow and low, like he didn't want to actually say it out loud.

Rick didn't respond for a long moment and he felt another tremor go through him. He could pass off the sweating in Carol's house simply as the temperature, but now that they were in Negan's car with the AC blowing on both of them, Rick couldn't explain why he was shaking slightly and sweating.

"I don't know. I don't want to... But there's so much you don't know about me. I'm so much to deal with." Rick leaned his head back against the car seat and let out a long sigh.

"I have something I've been keeping from you too. Something I really need to tell you if we're going to continue this." Negan squeezed Rick's leg tightly.

Rick didn't respond for a long time, he looked out the window and then his arm shook a bit. Rick suddenly felt like he was going to throw up so he unrolled the window and took a few deep breaths.

"I'll go first." Rick said slowly, finally feeling his stomach get under control.

"Rick, only tell me if you truly want to. I'm not pressuring you I just... I really like you, but I know you're going to leave soon."

" _I_ don't even know what I'm going to do. Just, let me work up the nerve to tell you for a minute." Rick said and Negan nodded at him, leaning over to press a kiss against Rick's temple while they were at a red light.

Neither of them spoke for a long moment and Rick saw the minutes ticking by, but they were going to be late to the barbecue, he didn't know how long he had before they would arrive back in Negan's neighborhood.

Rick took in a deep breath. "I'm a cocaine addict." He said on the exhale and the hand on Rick's knee that had been softly kneading circles into it, froze suddenly and stopped moving.

"You are?" Was all Negan could say, all that his mind could come up with.

Rick nodded slowly, mostly for himself than for Negan. "I started a year ago. I haven't had any in two days, that's why I'm shaking." Rick explained and then Negan's hand was rubbing more circles into Rick's knee.

"I have a son. A teenage son. And a really shitty ex wife." Negan said after he felt like he had stewed on what Rick said for long enough.

"Oh, I didn't know you'd been married."

"Right out of highschool. Had Carl when I was twenty three, he's fifteen now. Lori divorced me when we were thirty and she gets Carl for most of the school year." He explained and Rick put his hand back over Negan's hand, squeezing it.

"I think if you can handle me going through cocaine withdrawals, I can handle you having a son." Rick said softly and took another deep breath of fresh air.

"Withdrawal's? So you're quitting?" Negan asked and made a turn onto their cul-de-sac.

"If I stay with you. If I stay with you so much good will happen, but I just don't know if I can." Rick said petulantly, wishing that everything could just be perfect and that he didn't have to deal with his shitty, shitty life.

Negan pulled into his garage and when he stopped the car he didn't move to get out, he just looked over at Rick. "I want you to stay. It's your decision Rick, but if you do stay I feel like I need to know more. Not everything, you don't have to tell me what you don't want to tell me, but it doesn't stop at the cocaine addiction does it?"

"You saw my bank card. You know it doesn't end there." Rick said sullenly and even as Negan unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car Rick didn't move.

Negan walked around to the other side of the car as Rick felt tears rolling down his face. Negan opened his door and knelt down beside Rick in the car.

"I've never told anyone everything. The people around me just  _know_ how fucked up everything is. They know how fucked up and awful I am. I'm a terrible person Negan." Rick cried, sniffling harshly and trying not to full on sob.

Negan pulled the bowl of potatoes out of Rick's lap and set them on the ground. He reached over Rick and unbuckled his seat belt, pulling Rick out of the car and to his feet.

He steadied Rick an arms length away by his shoulder and Rick wouldn't make eyecontact with him. "You're not even going to want to be with me when you know everything."

Negan pulled Rick into a crushing hug. "Well I don't need to know anything else right now. Stop those tears, we have a party to go to." Negan wiped away the tear tracks on Rick's cheeks and Rick smiled through the tears.

"Can't wait." He said. Negan pressed a soft kiss against Rick's forehead and then pulled him into one more hug.


	8. Love Me Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -jessie and pete in this fic have a good relationship, he's not abusive. you can probably see where the carol storyline is going and i just don't want to repeat plots.  
> -is it going to be all over soon?....no

"Deanna, I want you to meet Rick!" Negan said to an older looking woman and gave her a huge grin. Rick was pretty sure it was her house that they were in the backyard of, but he'd already forgotten most of the names that he'd been told.

"Oh so you're the one who's been staying over at Negan's house. Causing quite the hubbub around here young man." She said and shook his hand, her grip was firm and when she smiled her eyes crinkled kindly.

"uh, oh, sorry." Rick said kind of sheepishly.

"No, no, don't worry. We love a bit of gossip around here. It's usually so boring." She assured and Rick nodded with a smile.

He was not used to this type of thing at all, socializing with average people, with no end game. He didn't have a goal in mind for tonight, he was just meeting people and wandering around.

"So, can we expect a move in soon?" She asked, carrying on the conversation.

Rick stammered for a moment and Negan loudly cleared his throat.

"Deanna! Are you already harassing Negan's new boyfriend?" A man suddenly appeared from out of the crowd. He was about the same age as Deanna and Rick figured that they were married or something.

"I'm just trying to get a feel for him!" She protested and the man laughed a bit.

"Sorry about her, we  _really_ don't get any gossip around here. I'm Reg by the way, Deanna's husband." He held out his hand and Rick shook it rather timidly.

"I don't mind at all, it's been quite the warm welcome. And I'm Rick." He responded, starting to regain his footing. Rick knew how to please people and get them to like him but other than that... He was dreadful at holding conversations past pleasantries and he was so used to being overtly sexual that he would have to watch what he was saying. Flirting was just second nature.

"Does anyone else smell, burning?" Negan asked abruptly, shifting the conversation.

"Oh no, I left my son in charge of the grilled veggies. It was nice meeting you Rick, I'm sure we'll speak more in the future." Deanna rushed out and then headed towards the grill. Reg offered them a smile before following after her.

"This socialization shit is hard. I think I need like a twenty minute break before the next one." Rick said dramatically and Negan let out one of his long, overly loud laughs and then slung an arm around his waist, leading Rick to the drink table.

"Beer?" Negan asked, holding one out to Rick with his free hand.

Rick made a face. "Not a fan."

"You've only had  _one_ and it was warm." Negan interjected.

Before Rick could retort, a young woman in a flannel shirt that was across the table from them spoke up. "We have those  _Lime-a-rita_ things over here! Want one?" She held one across the table to Rick.

"Yeah, that's more my style. Thank you." He said with a half grin on his face. In truth, he'd never had one before, but it sounded a million times better than a  _bud lite._

"No problem! I'm Jessie by the way, Pete's wife, Ron and Sam's mom, drink distributor." She greeted with with a very welcoming grin. She was incredibly pretty and just radiated a positive aura that made Rick immediately want to be friends with her.

"I'm Rick! No titles yet, I'll get there." He joked and Negan squeezed Rick's hip lightly.

"Hey where is Pete? Did he catch the game last night?" Negan asked Jessie and she pointed off somewhere.

"Yes, sadly." She said and Negan gave Rick one quick kiss on the forehead and then darted off towards where Jessie had pointed, leaving Rick standing rather awkwardly with Jessie.

"Did he just... Leave me for sports?" Rick asked, a slight look of disbelief on his face. He wasn't mad or anything, more just intrigued to learn that Negan valued sports so much, also he was like ninety percent sure that Negan hadn't watched any kind of sport game last night.

"First time?" She asked with a mock sense of pity. Jessie walked over to the side of the table Rick was on so they weren't separated. "I swear, during football season, I felt like Pete was married to Negan and not me." She said, exasperated.

"That's weird. I mean I know Negan coaches baseball but I just didn't peg him as an all around sports guy." Rick admitted and then took his first sip of the drink that Jessie had given him. It was alright, not as bad as the beer, but still a little too sweet for his liking.

"Him, Pete, and Aaron are absolutely inseparable at things like this usually. I take it you're not a ' _sports guy_ '?"

"No, no, to be honest I really don't know what sport they'd even be talking about right now."

"It's March." She said, as if that was supposed to mean anything to him.

"And...?"

"Wow, you're even worse than I was before I met Pete! March Madness, basketball." She explained and Rick nodded slowly for a few seconds.

"Oh, sounds boring." Rick shrugged a bit and felt his shoulders spasm as he did so. Jessie didn't seem to notice so he took another long sip of the drink, glad that it was cold because his body felt like it was burning up. Rick was almost entirely sure that he wouldn't be able to eat anything tonight.

"It is. So, are you moving in with Negan? Because not to sound judgy or anything, but uh," she leaned in a little bit to whisper the next words to him: "most of the other ladies around here are a little too 'soccer mom' and you seem totally cool." She admitted and Rick could smell the alcohol on her breath. Most people seemed to already be a few drinks in since he and Negan had arrived fashionably late after cleaning up all of Rick's crying.

"That's a hot question tonight. To be honest I don't really know,  _we_ don't really know." Rick admitted and Jessie took him very casually by the hand and led him to two deep seated deck chairs that surveyed the rest of the spacious backyard. There were kids running around and people chatting amicably throughout it. Deanna now seemed to be in charge of cooking, and Rick could see Negan talking with two other men near a group of kids.

"So, why don't you guys know? Sorry am I being too pushy? You just seem really cute together and I kind of want to know everything." She said and scrunched up her nose in an adorable way at the end of the sentence, making Rick immediately want to spill everything to her.

"Okay, well, basically I have this job. And it's a really good job, not one that I could easily quit. And this job requires me to travel constantly. Internationally, I actually live in Los Angeles and I'm just here for the week."

"Don't tell me, you're considering quitting this super good job for a man that we haven't even known for a full week?" She guessed the rest and raised and eyebrow at Rick.

"Am I totally stupid?"

"I mean, a  _little,_ but you've only known Negan a week and you're already at a neighborhood barbecue. Rick the man is  _smitten_ with you. Now I'm a little tipsy and maybe I shouldn't be telling you all this  _buuuuuut_ , you're certainly not the first person Negan's dated in these past couple of years. And he had never brought  _one_ of them to a neighborhood barbecue. I'm pretty sure he dated one girl for like two months and we never met her. This is big news, does he  _want_ you to move in?" She asked and Rick felt like he was being assaulted with information. he felt a slight blush rise to his cheeks at the fact that he was special compared to Negan's other interests.

"He told me that he 'wants me to stay'." Rick admitted.

"Okay so that might just sound innocuous and sweet, however I have even more Intel, you know about Carl right?" Rick nodded. "He's in highschool and  _next week_ is spring break. Carl always comes to visit on spring break. So if Negan's asking you to stay after only knowing you for a week,  _and_ you will most definitely meet his teenage son the second week? He  _really_ wants you to stay." She explained and Rick quirked his lips to the side for a moment.

"God that adds so much more stress on my decision." Rick complained.

"Sorry!" Jessie rushed out, obviously feeling like she had overstepped her bounds or something.

"No, I'm glad you told me that. I really appreciate it. At least I know that if I move in I'll have a good friend." Rick said and she grinned at him.

"Mom!" A loud voice came from somewhere in the crowd and Jessie perked up.

"That'll be my son! Let's talk more later Rick." She said and then was bouncing off to where the voice came from.

Negan downed the rest of the  _lime-a-rita_ and then stood up to find a trashcan. He saw that Negan was now talking to Reg and he didn't want to interrupt or seem needy, so Rick made his way to the drink table to grab himself another one.

While there, a man appeared behind him, not too close, but Rick could still feel his presence. "Damn, you  _are_ cute." The man said, his voice a little slurred and definitely drunk.

Rick straightened up a little and turned to face the man, his body slightly tense. It was one of the men he'd seen Negan talking to.

"Aaron!" Another voice called and then a slender blonde man was standing next to Aaron, looking mildly disappointed in him. "I am  _so_ sorry. He's drunk and I was trying to keep my eye on him." The man explained.

"Oh, it's fine, I'm Rick." He introduced and smiled at the two men.

"Negan's new boyfriend right? We've been hearing all about you. I'm Eric, this drunk is my husband Aaron." The two of them smiled at him and Aaron seemed to sober up just a little.

"Good things I hope." Rick said, wondering just how they'd been hearing things about him when he'd only just made his public appearance a few hours ago.

"Of course! Deanna was just telling me what a good fit you seem to be for Negan." Eric explained.

"And Negan was telling me how lucky he is to have scored such a hottie." Aaron said with a shrug and a casual tone of voice. That made Rick laugh.

"Well I glad everyone seems to think so highly of me." Rick said and then he felt an almost overwhelming bout of nausea run through him. He was only  _just_ able to stop himself from throwing up since he had caught a potent smell of some of the food being cooked. "I, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go try and find Negan." He said his goodbyes to the two of them and then slipped into the crowd, looking around for the man.

He was still talking to Reg but also excused himself when he saw Rick walking towards him.

They stood a little away from everyone and Negan put an arm around Rick's shoulders and a hand briefly on his forehead. "You're burning up. We should go home." Negan said and tried to lead Rick away.

"No, I can go back myself. You stay and enjoy yourself. I'll just go lay down." Rick said and made to slip out of Negan's grasp.

"I'm not going to let you go throw up and lie in pain by yourself." Negan argued.

"But," Rick tried to gather his thoughts for a moment but found that he couldn't, so what he said next was more of just a garbled mess of several different thoughts. "Jessie said you've never brought a date to a neighborhood barbecue before and I don't want to make you leave  _now_." He protested.

"And you can come to plenty more barbecues once you're well." Negan said and then Rick gave in, letting the man lead him back home.

No one really seemed to notice them exit, and it was only a short walk to Negan's house. Lucille was waiting at the door for them and Rick rushed to the master bathroom before collapsing in front of the toilet and throwing up. He had barely anything in his stomach though since he hadn't eaten since his late breakfast.

Negan made his way up after Rick and knelt on the floor beside him, pulling his slightly unruly hair away from his face and rubbing his back.

Rick retched again and then started crying silent tears as he did so. "Can you get me a glass of water?" He asked pitifully.

Negan grabbed some stray hairclip, probably a remnant of when he last had a girlfriend, and pinned Rick's hair away from his face before getting up and walking away into the kitchen.

Lucy very carefully padded her way into the bathroom, as if unsure if she was allowed to come be with him. She took a seat next to him and Rick rested some of his weight on her so that he wouldn't have to lean on the toilet.

When Negan returned he sat down a pack of gum and a glass of water beside Rick. He then carefully moved Rick so that he could wipe down the toilet with a lysol wipe and ran his hand down Rick's back a few times.

"Are you going to be more sick?" Negan asked and Rick nodded weakly.

"I think so."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Can you just sit here with me and hold me?"

"Yeah baby, I can do that." Negan wrapped his arms very loosely around Rick, obviously not wanting to upset his stomach anymore, and leaned up against the bath tub with Rick in between his legs.

"I'm going to stay here."

"In my bathroom?"

"Wherever you'll have me."

* * *

Much later in the night, maybe even early in the morning, they were both woken up by the sound of the front door opening and Lucille barking.

"Who's here?" Rick mumbled, sitting up in the bed. He was wearing just his underwear and was feeling a little bit better than he had been, still sweating though.

"I don't know, stay here I'll go check it out." Negan said and reached into his bedside table for something, Rick was pretty sure it was a knife.

Negan got up and went out the bedroom door but Rick followed a little bit behind him. Lucille was growling now and Rick could hear an indistinct voice telling her something.

A light was switched on where Negan was up ahead of him. "Who the fuck are you?" Negan asked, his body tensed from what Rick could see, but the other person was obscured from his view still.

"I'm looking for Rick. He here?" Rick recognized the voice so he picked up the pace a little.

"I don't know. Who's asking?" Negan asked but Rick got around the corner and answered before the other man could.

"Daryl?" Rick asked, his voice a tone of disbelief. There Daryl was standing in the foyer with the front door wide open behind him.

"You  _know_ this guy?" Negan asked, looking over at Rick.

"Yeah, I guess you could say he's my best friend." Rick tried to explain but he was kind of just as confused as Negan was. Rick walked over to the front door and shut it so that no one from around the neighborhood would be freaked out.

"And why are you in my living room?" Negan finally untensed the knife in his grip though, seeming to understand that Daryl wasn't there to hurt them.

"Because Rick's not responding to his fucking messages and we're in a whole world of trouble." Daryl explained and and Rick pulled a throw blanket off the back of the couch to wrap around himself.

"Yeah, I'm quitting." Rick shrugged and stood beside Negan.

Daryl looked like his eyes were going to bug out of his head. "You're  _quitting?_ " He basically wheezed the last work. "You can't  _quit_ Rick! There was a party tonight and you weren't fucking there so guess who Philip was pissed at? Maggie! Dude he spent like an hour screaming at her. She's been crying ever since. You only ever think about your damn self Rick!" Daryl got progressively louder as he spoke, basically yelling by the end of it.

"Hey!" Negan snapped at him. "Don't fucking yell at him." He ordered and the tone and anger behind his voice made Daryl visibly back off.

"I'm sorry." Rick whispered and took in a deep breath. "I'll go talk to Philip tonight, tell him that I'm not coming back."

"Do you think he's going to  _let_ you? You'd be lucky to escape with the clothes on your back Rick. He'll take everything from you, maybe even your life."

"But I don't know anything! He never told me anything about the company, about the drugs. I swear Daryl I just did what he told me." Rick bargained.

"I'm not the one you should be talking to. I don't know what you did and didn't know but now Philip knows there's a rat going to his parties and he things you're spilling all the company details." Daryl explained, obviously trying to calm himself to get across to Rick.

"Ezekiel..." Rick mumbled to himself. It was so glaringly obvious. "I know who the mole is! I have his card back at the hotel. I can call him and we can tell him everything and shut the whole company down."

"Rick, I'm trying to phase myself out too, but getting the whole company shut down? I don't even think that's possible. He's too powerful at this point. And the cops aren't going to let you off scott free either, you've done illegal things as well."

"You could probably make a deal with them." Negan interjected and both men stared at him for a moment. "I mean, honestly, I still don't know what kind of business this  _really_ is, but usually if you've done a lesser crime and you help the cops take down a bigger guy then they'll grant you immunity. Especially if the 'bigger guy' has in anyway coerced you into doing anything." He explained and Rick nodded.

"You, Maggie, Michonne, Abraham, and Sasha, I doubt you guys would be touched." Rick mused and Daryl just quirked his lips to the side.

"This is risky shit Rick."

"Riskier than going out every night, high as a kite, and doing anything and everything people ask me to do?" Rick countered and Negan seemed to tense up a bit when Rick said that, his brows furrowing slightly.

"I guess not. I mean you're kind of an ass to all of us, but I suppose none of us ever really had to do your job. I got the closest and... I couldn't do it. If this is the way you wanna go, you know you can afford the damn lawyers." Daryl finally said.

"Then it's settled. Let's go back to the hotel, I'll explain everything to everyone else and then I'll call Ezekiel." Rick said resolutely.

"Rick it's one in the morning and you're deathly sick. You can't go out  _now._ " Negan insisted.

"I have to. I've already let my boss hurt someone close to me. It can't happen again. I promise Negan, this will all end soon and then I'll come back here and stay with you." Rick said and turned to face Negan and cup his cheek.

"I don't even know where you're going Rick. I don't know enough, you have to tell me."

"Not right now, I can't."

Negan let out a long sigh and looked like he didn't know what to do. "This is so much Rick, so much." He said after a long pause with no words.

"I'm sorry, I was going to tell you soon but now everything's going on and I just don't have time right now. Things are moving so fast."

"Fuck yeah, okay go. This is just crazy Rick, and I don't know how much longer I can wait for you to tell me everything."

"As soon as this is all over. I promise."


	9. P.S I Love You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -if you're starting to see any continuity issues in this story I'm super sorry for that. I just knew how that story was gonna start and how it was gonna end, but everything in between has been kind of improvised.  
> -wooooow we finally learn Rick's backstory!! very fun, the anticlimactic reveal

"Give me 24 hours and I can have all of your assets liquidated." Maggie said, already typing away on her laptop.

"Wait, what does that mean? Are you selling my stuff?" Rick inquired, furrowing his brows together. It was maybe three in the morning and he'd just finished explaining to Maggie, Michonne, Abraham, and Sasha that he was going to call Ezekiel and see if the man really was an undercover cop. Then Rick was going to get immunity for himself and set Philip up, but Maggie had interjected that they needed to wait at least a bit, as it wasn't going to be that easy.

"I'm selling the house in Los Angeles and that beach house you've never been to in Bora Bora. I think I might already have a buyer for the jet, even though technically Philip bought that... Oh well I think I can get you the money anyway." She explained and Rick raised his eyebrows.

"Why do I have to sell my stuff?" He asked, desperately not wanting all of it to go away. He liked his house, and he was  _sure_ he would adore the beach house if he ever got around to seeing it.

"First of all, because you bought it with illegal money and second, because Philip definitely wouldn't let you keep this shit around if he found out you were trying to take him down. Even if you succeeded with an investigation against him, if he has ten minutes alone he could take  _everything_ from you. Simon would probably do it anyway if he got arrested. I'm just trying to let you guys keep the most amount of your money."

"I forgot to tell you guys that no matter how this goes down, It's not like I'm going to be in the company for any longer and if I'm living with Negan I don't really  _need_ the money so I'll pay you all out for ten more years. I'll leave it up to you guys to decide if you just want ten years of regular salary or a lump sum of money." He said and stood up. There wasn't a chorus of cheers of him or anything, most of them just looked like that's what they expected from him. To be fair, Rick was kind of putting them in a difficult situation. They were out a relatively good job, and now would be Philip Blake, a billionaire drug lord's, enemies.

"I should fly back to Los Angeles, I'll retrieve everything you want to keep from your house but other than that we'll just sell it furnished." Michonne said and also stood up. "I'll get the next flight. Anything you particularly want Rick?"

"No. You can donate all the clothes, or keep anything you want. I'm going to have enough money to buy myself a new wardrobe. Oh wait, there's a picture on my bedside table that I want, but other than that... Nothing." Rick tried to think through everything he owned, but none of it really had value to him in a sentimental way.

"What's the picture of? Just so I can find it?"

"It's of Daryl and I, we look real young, you'll know it." He said and she nodded at him with a smile. "Alright, I'm going to go call Ezekiel."

"It's 3:30 in the morning Rick." Daryl protested.

Rick shrugged his shoulders. "I want to call him now. This is important news, he can wake up for it."

Across the room in his own hotel room, Rick appreciated the brief reprieve from all the questions and concern. He just wanted to be alone for a few short minutes so he could completely change his life.

Rick would still have plenty of money. A ridiculous amount of money probably because the real estate agents in Hollywood were shady and he'd probably be getting a very hefty direct deposit into his account. So his lifestyle wouldn't change in that respect. Rick probably wouldn't have to work for the rest of his life if he didn't want to, and could travel and live a wealthy life the whole time.

But he would be more free in a sense. Able to choose where he wanted to go, what he wanted to do, who he wanted to be with. He could choose every aspect of his life right down to whether or not he wanted a hickey.

Ezekiel's business card was still in the pants that he'd worn the first night out and Rick typed it in slowly to his phone. He figured that he would be calling Ezekiel on a burner phone and that he was obviously very deep undercover, but Rick had a lot of information about the prostitution and under the table real estate scams. The drug side of things Rick wasn't entirely sure of other than the fact that Philip was too rich to only be a real estate tycoon and there was always an abundance of drugs at parties.

"Hello?" A voice came over the phone, dark and tired, as Rick remembered.

"It's Rick Grimes."

There was a sound of rustling on the other end of the phone, things being frantically shuffled around before Ezekiel spoke again. "Rick, what a pleasure to hear from you, especially at four in the morning."

"I have information you might be interested in. Are you a cop?" Rick hadn't really been sure how he was going to put it and ask the question. Obviously he couldn't just ask Ezekiel if he was a police officer without giving him anything to bite or else the man would be suspicious, but Rick also didn't want to state anything he knew about Philip in case Ezekiel wasn't a cop and he could use that against Rick.

"You do? What kind of information might I be interested in?"

"It has to do with our conversation that other night in the alley." Rick tried to keep it vague. If there was one thing he learned working for Philip it was that every phone was tapped.

"Rick I want you to meet me at the bar of your hotel in one hour. Don't bring anyone with you other than one of your bodyguards. Bring your ID but not your phone." Ezekiel said, his voice suddenly very crisp and not tired sounding at all.

"Alright. I'll see you then."

* * *

At 4:30 in the morning on Friday Rick was thinking about the fact that Negan would be getting up for school soon as he walked to the hotel bar with Abraham in tow. Yes, in half an hour Negan's first alarm would go off if Rick remembered correctly.

Then Negan would wake up groggy and probably forget why Rick wasn't in bed with him, then get a little panicked, then remember the events from the night before, and then get more panicked.

Rick wasn't sure the pace that all of this stuff was going to move at. Maybe he would be locked in an interrogation room for the whole day, or maybe Ezekiel would let him walk away for a while. Rick didn't know how anything worked.

The hotel bar was technically closed, but Rick found the door to be unlocked and Ezekiel was the only one sitting at any of the tables. There wasn't even a bartender and only a few lights were on.

Ezekiel was dressed smart, even as Rick was basically in his pajamas. Rick took the seat across from Ezekiel and Abraham sat at a table next to theirs.

"Rick, I'm glad you showed up." Ezekiel greeted and his smile put Rick to ease.

"I'm glad this wasn't a trap for you to kill me."

"Do you worry about death in your line of business often, Rick?"

"I'm not going to answer any questions until you tell me who you are."

Ezekiel pulled another business card out of his pocket along with a pen and he scrawled a phone number on the blank back. "I want you to call this number. It's the police non-emergency number. Then you'll ask for detective Tara Chambers. When you have Tara on the phone I'll tell you what to do next." Ezekiel explained.

"You told me not to bring my phone." Rick pointed out.

"Abraham, if we could borrow yours. Very low possibility that Philip bugged his."

Rick reached out and took Abraham's phone, then very slowly and deliberately typed in the phone number. He didn't even realize that his fingers were shaking as he did so.

"Atlanta Police Department." A voice came over the phone, then a hastily added, "if this is an emergency, please hang up and dial 9-1-1."

"Can I be connected with detective Tara Chambers?"

There was a brief pause and then another ringing noise.

"Why would anyone be working at 4:30?" Rick asked as the sound of some garbled classical music came through the phone.

"I happen to know that she and her partner got called in very early this morning for an apparent homicide and they probably haven't left." Ezekiel explained and that reassured in Rick that Ezekiel actually was a cop.

"This is Detective Chambers. Listen it's 4:30 in the morning and I really want to go home and sleep until my 9:00 shift, so unless you're on fire of actively being murdered, can you call back then?" A very sleepy voice came over the phone, and there was even a clipped yawn at one point.

"Ask her to patch in Detective Stokes." Ezekiel directed.

"Can you patch in Detective Stokes?" Rick asked and hoped that she would just take his word for it. She really sounded like she didn't want to be dealing with this kind of shit right now.

There was a momentary pause. "Yeah." She finally said and then Rick heard the sound of buttons being pushed and beeping.

"Detective Gabriel Stokes." Came a new, male voice. It was coming in kind of distorted though and Rick figured they were probably in the same room but at different desks.

"Now, what do you need?" She asked, sounding very impatient.

"Tell them that you need the name and physical description of employee number 677801, because you found his ID and someone is asking for it."

"I need the name and physical description of employee number 677801. I found their ID on the ground and someone is saying it's theirs but I don't know."

There was a very long pause and Rick figured this was some kind of elaborate scheme so that Ezekiel could only be identified through a confusing process that only he and his department knew the answers to.

"Black, tall, has dreadlocks, is probably telling you to say all of this stuff. His name is Ezekiel and he's definitely smiling way too much for 4 in the morning." The woman finally said and Rick nodded along with what she was saying.

"Hang up."

Rick did so.

When Abraham had his phone back Rick broke the silence. "That was elaborate."

"I'm undercover. There had to be a way for me to identify myself but also clue the precinct in if I was being tortured or something. That's what the number was for, different variations meant I was in different situations. Now, Rick, what exactly do you have to tell me."

"I want immunity." He immediately said, wanting to get that out of the way. "And Daryl, Maggie, Michonne, Abraham, and Sasha. All of them."

Ezekiel leaned back in his seat slightly. "How do I know that you know anything about Philip?"

"He thinks I'm stupid, just an object. So he's let me see things that other people haven't seen. Daryl too."

"Give me an example. You can keep it as vague as you want."

"He owns hundreds of acres of forest land in Colombia." Was what Rick thought was low level, but still kind of incriminating.

"We should meet at the precinct. You need to say all of this stuff in front of other officers too. I'll be in touch with you Rick." Ezekiel said as he stood up to leave.

"Wait," Rick reached out to grab Ezekiel's forearm. "He's going to be arrested, right?"

"Do you feel unsafe with him free Rick?"

"I... I don't think he would hurt me but I just don't know him that way." Rick admitted.

"Get out of the hotel. Get all of your people out of this hotel. We can have a squad car follow you around if you want." He offered.

"No, I'll stay with him." Abraham immediately interjected.

"Yeah, I want Abraham. And okay. We can get out of the hotel immediately."

* * *

Much later in the day, closer to four in the afternoon after Rick had slept for a very long time back safe and sound in Negan's bed, he was sitting on the living room couch and waiting for the man to get home.

Rick was going to tell him everything, the whole cursed story of his life, and then would see if Rick still had a place to stay, or if he would be finding somewhere new to live.

The door opened and Negan came in, immediately noticing Rick sitting on the couch. "Rick, you're back, are you okay?" Negan asked, dropping his brief case and throwing his blazer on the ground next to it. Negan came around the front of the couch to kneel next to Rick.

"Yeah, I'm okay. We should talk though." He said slowly and pulled Negan by the forearm onto the couch next to him. Rick curled under Negan's arm.

"I've been worried sick about you all day. Everything that happened last night was just so surreal." He commented and then Lucille joined Rick on his other side, scooched up next to him.

"I know, but it's not even the weirdest thing to ever happen to me." Rick mused and thought very carefully about how he should begin his story.

"Do you want me to make us some dinner before we talk?" Negan offered.

"I'm still not hungry, but you can go ahead." Rick said and looked up at Negan but the man didn't look like he was hungry, he just looked kind of uncomfortable with the situation at hand.

"I've only known you for seven days. And it's not even like I saw you all of them. We barely know each other." Negan said after a long silence and he sounded more like the words were for himself and not Rick.

"But I feel like we got to know each other a lot. And I'm willing to tell you everything! I promise!" Rick rushed out, suddenly very scared that Negan was about to say this was all too much and that he couldn't handle Rick's life.

"And I'll listen, of course. It's just, my son is on spring break next week and he'll be staying with me. I can't risk having random people barge into my house or having cocaine around, I can't put him in danger." Negan said after another moment of recollection.

"I won't! There won't be anything wrong anymore! No more cocaine, no more random people! I really want to try and leave all of that behind. Like a normal life, I think that's what I want."

Negan didn't respond, he stood up from off the couch and quirked his lips to one side. "Tell me everything." Negan insisted and then took a seat in a large recliner across from Rick who was still curled up with Lucille at his side.

Rick had never told this whole story to anyone before and he raced through his mind for when to start. "I'm from Seattle originally. My parents are Linda and Frank Grimes, I had a little sister named Dianna who died in infancy when I was five. We were pretty average middle class, didn't really go on a lot of vacations, my parents worked a lot. My mom was a sales assistant at a large box store and my dad worked in a very small sports marketing business. Everything was pretty normal, I had a few good friends, did normal kid shit. Then my grandma died when I was nine. She was from Orange County, California and owned a pretty nice house. My mom was an only child so my parents decided that they would sell the house in Seattle and move down there with me. That's kind of when things started getting weird.

"My mom couldn't get a job at first when we got down there so she stayed home a lot while my dad worked 9-5 then did some bar-tending in the evening. I made a few more friends on my cul-de-sac and then my mom started doing some kind of drugs. I still don't  _really_ know what she was doing, probably a little bit of dealer's choice. I assume it was meth though. She grew really cold, mean, violent. My dad didn't know that any of this was happening and she started being verbally abusive to me, but I was quicker than her so she never hit me. I was like ten when she started doing meth, and then shortly after that my dad started too. So pretty soon neither of them were going to work and it was up to me to go to school for myself, which I actually did for quite a while. There was never much food in the house and random people were always in and out, my parents didn't care who was over.

"I think I had sex for the first time at twelve, maybe thirteen. That was a pretty fucked up time in my life, my parents gave no shits what I did. I wasn't doing hard drugs with them, but I was drinking a bit when I wasn't just holed up alone in my room. That went on for like two years and then finally child protective services got involved, I still don't know how they knew about it. My parents thought that they were going to be put in jail so they skipped town. It was actually almost a week before I realized that they were completely gone. And then the CPS came back and I went into the foster care program, a joke really. I went from home to home but most families didn't want to put up with a fifteen year old like me who didn't take school seriously and partied with the best of them. I think that foster families didn't really think I deserved to be fostered, yaknow? Like obviously if I was just going to drink and party and blow school off then I wasn't serious about being in a family. But I just think that after living with meth addict parents for five years I just stopped giving a shit about anything. I was ninety percent sure I wasn't going to graduate high school, probably get addicted to meth, and then be dead by eighteen.

"So when I met Philip Blake I was  _really_ impressionable. I was 'shiny, and young, and easy to trick' I suppose. Really I just wanted someone who would take care of me and Philip was prepared to offer that. I met him at a club and he told me I was beautiful, then he showed me his business card and told me he could offer me a job. I thought I knew what I was getting into with him, a lot of girls I hung around with at that time had gotten rolled into prostitution. I knew a couple seriously smart girls who just couldn't make ends meet one night and had to turn to it, and some of them ended up dead. So I  _thought_ I knew what was going to happen. I would call Philip, from a payphone, and then he would tell me who to meet and what to charge; I would meet him the next day with his cut of the money. Seedy and under the table. But that isn't what ended up happening.

"I was only sixteen at the time and he told me to get a cab to an address in the Hollywood Hills, and he said he would pay the cab fare. Of course no cabbie was going to pick up a scrawny punk like me and go off of my word, so I had to walk all the way there. By the time I arrived at his place I was really unsure of myself. I didn't have a phone so I couldn't call and make sure that I was at the right place, but I walked right up to the gate, pressed the buzzer and announced myself and sure as shit it really was his place. He literally lived in a mansion, something incomprehensible to me at the time. I'd been to the Hills one time on a shitty tour bus, but there I was walking up to this strange guys house. I found myself not even worried in a way, in my head I was like 'how could a guy this fucking rich be pimping off people to murderers' you know? It all seemed so safe to me.

"I get up to the house and obviously there's some kind of party going on, expensive cars parked up and down the driveway. A woman met me on the stoop, her name was Maggie Greene and she told me that she was supposed to get me dressed and ready and that I was late. Maggie's my manager and today one of my best friends. I don't really know how she got mixed up in Philip's business, but she was never involved in the illicit side of it until she became in charge of me, and even then I think she thought I was so happy that it couldn't really be anything bad what I had to do. So she got me dressed up in an easily ten thousand dollar suit, cut my hair for me, and told me to go socialize and make people happy. I was told not to go to bed with anyone and not to let anyone get under my clothes until I was  _tested_. I wasn't allowed to talk back to anyone or be feisty.

"Of course I was. I was a little kid from the streets so of course I talked back to all the creepy old men groping me, but they seemed to think that it gave me character. So Philip hired me on full time and told me that he liked my pinache. They got me tested for STDs and who the hell knows what else, and then that was my job from 16 to 18, I went to fancy parties and I was the  _entertainment._ I was treated like god damn dessert for the socialites of Southern California. Then Philip decided that I was his  _favorite._ He had plenty of other toys, like Daryl from last night, but I had somehow made my way to the top. People liked me, and I liked the money I was making so I kept it up. After Philip established me as his most coveted toy, people started paying more for me, a  _lot_ more. I would fly to different cities all over the world, be put up in the best hotel room, and then men and women would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for me.

"I'm ridiculously rich. I've done deals and been on the covers of BDSM magazines, I think there was a fucking article about me in  _People_ or anything. Anybody who's anybody knows who I am and they turn a blind eye to the fact that I'm a whore. And It's  _embarrassing_ Negan, your friend Dwight from the other night recognized me, he knew exactly who I was. I don't have any real friends. I have a manager, a publicist, a hired best friend. There's a bodyguard parked out in the street  _right now._ I dropped out of school for this shit, I don't have a damn drivers license. And I want out. I'm fucking done with all of this. Maggie's selling my houses right now, liquidating everything. But Philip isn't going to just let me walk away after I've personally made him millions, so I had to get the police involved and I'm going to have to do a lot of coopoerating with them but I guess I have immunity so I won't get in trouble for everything.

"And that's it. I'm a high class prostitute basically." Rick finished and swallowed around the lump in his throat. 

"God Rick... I'm so sorry."

"What?" Rick questioned slowly, frowning at Negan.

"I'm sorry that I pushed you to tell me everything. That's a lot." Negan stood up and came to sit next to Rick again. "That's a lot for you to have dealt with in your life. I, thank you for telling me." 

"So you're not mad? You're not going to kick me out tell me to get lost?" 

"Of  _course_ not. Sounds like you've already had enough of that in your life. To be honest, I'm kind of worried about how dangerous this Philip guy is, but I feel better that the police are involved now."

Rick stared at Negan in a slightly stunned silence. He wasn't sure what reaction he was expecting, but this wasn't it. Negan was so calm and collected and seemed to perfectly articulate even as Rick wanted to break down in tears. 

"But I'm gross. I've been with countless men. And I didn't even think to tell you."

"You are not gross Rick. You did what you had to do. Even when you were making money and didn't need to do this for a living, there's no telling how scared you were of leaving, of the unknown that came with that. It's crazy brave of you to even try and quit now, and I'll help you with anything you need. Anything at all. I just can't believe that...  _mother fucker..._ would make you do stuff like that."

Rick pressed a small kiss to Negan's jawline and the man wrapped his arms back around Rick's shoulders. 

"I don't have work tomorrow, we could go do something." Negan offered.

"You sure you don't need to hear anything else about my life?" Rick questioned, seriously.

"In time I'm sure I'll have more questions. But for now I've heard all I want to hear for the night. Let's just spend tomorrow relaxing." 

"I can't even tell you how amazing that sounds."


	10. Baby It's You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can i get uh,,,, google results for 'cocaine withdrawal'?

"Rick, baby, you wanna wake up soon? It's eleven." Negan very softly as he pulled the covers away from Rick's head. They'd gone to bed last night fairly early but had taken a long time to get to sleep. Rick had been very needy last night, and Negan never could seem to fall asleep while cuddling so he'd had to wait until Rick was asleep till he could move. Then Rick had woken up, sleepily upset, and they'd had to do the whole thing over again, twice.

Negan gave him a minute and then shook his shoulder again. Rick very slowly opened his eyes and then immediately fluttered them, then closed them again. Rick shook his head. "I can't." He mumbled and pulled the covers back over his head.

"Come on, I was gonna go have lunch with the Anderson's if you want to join me."

"Can't." Rick said again, voice muffled from under the covers.

Negan ran his head gently over Rick's shoulder. Rick tensed up and jerked his shoulder away. Negan withdrew his hand liked he'd been burned and awkwardly placed it back at his side. "What's wrong?"

"Everything hurts so bad Neg." His voice came wet and quiet, Negan noticed that the blankets Rick was on had spots that were soaked through with sweat. He didn't know what to do for a moment, just sat on his side of the bed and looked at Rick's cocoon form on the bed, in a fetal position and breathing heavily from the blanket over his head.

"What can I do?"

"Just leave me alone for a while." He spoke back and didn't poke his head out.

"I think we should go to the hospital." Negan said and Rick shook his head quickly.

"I can't talk anymore, just leave me alone."

Negan sighed heavily and then stood, going to sit in the arm chair across the room. Rick couldn't see what he did, but figured the man was probably just sitting there watching him. Rick just wanted to be alone. His whole body felt like it was cramping at once, his stomach was like a knot, and every time he opened his eyes his vision swam like the world was pulsing.

"Go to lunch." Rick said after a long while. He couldn't really go back to bed now that he was aware of how hot he was and how burning the sun felt on the duvet cover around him. But his limps were cold, his toes almost freezing. His heart was beating erratically in his chest and he could hear each thump clearly in his inner ear. Every few breaths a tremor ran through him.

"I can't just leave you like this, you could have a seizure." Negan responded his voice clear and dark. Rick didn't think the man was annoyed with him, but his chest fluttered like he was. Rationally Rick knew that Negan was probably just stressed beyond belief, but his mind was incredibly anxious right now, not quite paranoid, thankfully.

"Don't just sit there and watch me." Rick snapped, his voice more venomous than he intended. A round of cramps were passing and he straightened his body out a little, feeling some temporary relief. He still ached but at least his whole body wasn't contracting on itself anymore.

"Rick, what you're doing is dangerous. I just don't want you to get hurt." Negan's voice came out slow and calculated, like he was trying not to raise his voice.

"Then get me some fucking coke!" Rick yelled, blankets still pulled up over his face. And suddenly he was breathing too heavily and had to pull them down. He gasped in breaths for a moment until they were back to normal.

"Oh can you piss off. You don't want me to help you, and now you're shouting at me?" Negan stood up from the chair and Rick immediately burst into tears, his chest shaking with ugly sobs.

"I'm sorry, please don't go." He cried and Negan looked like he wanted to roll his eyes, but took another seat on the bed next to Rick, who immediately clung onto him. "Please, I'm so sorry I yelled at you."

"It's fine Rick, just don't do it again."

Rick nodded against Negan's chest as tears continued to come.

And just as soon as they started, they stopped and Rick was climbing into Negan's lap with a glint in his eye, straddling the man with red rimmed eyes. "Do you want me to give you a blowjob?"

"Jesus Rick, what are you talking about?" Negan couldn't keep up with the man's wildly shifting mood. He'd have to google the symptoms for a cocaine withdrawal because this was just absolutely off the wall. First Rick couldn't stand him, then he was crying, now he's horny. What's next?

Crying, again, as it would seem.

"You don't want me to?" He asked as pitiful tears streamed down his face.

"Of  _course_ I want you to, just not when you're coming off of coke." Negan assured but Rick didn't really take that for an answer and tried to push their lips together.

Negan resisted for a moment before figuring that maybe it would make Rick feel better to just submit to his ridiculous whims for at least the moment.

"Do you know I'm really good? You're  _lucky_ to be with me honestly, and for free." Rick muttered, but it didn't sound playful, his voice was dark and uncomfortable and it made Negan feel slightly awkward even as he went right back to kissing the man.

Rick masterfully flipped their positions so that Negan was on top and then they carried on kissing.

"Choke me." Rick whispered and Negan shook his head.

"Not this time." Negan said and Rick bucked his hips up against Negan, but Negan could feel that Rick wasn't hard, his cock didn't seem to be showing any interest at all really. Rick whined at his answer and pressed his head back into the pillow, breaking their kiss and narrowing his eyes at Negan.

"Hit me."

"No! You're basically high Rick, you're fucking delirious." Negan tried to argue.

"Then fuck me!"

Negan pulled down the band of Rick's underwear to find that he wasn't the least bit hard and Negan sat back on his heels. "Are you even enjoying this? I don't think you can get hard right now."

"Fuck you!"

"I'm telling you the fucking truth jackass."

There was a knock at the door from downstairs and Negan got off the bed quickly, glad for their argument to end. "Stay in bed." He ordered and then disappeared out of the room.

Rick immediately got out of the bed and grabbed Negan's bathrobe, tying ti loosely around himself. He would have to go shopping for an entirely knew wardrobe, since he really didn't have that much clothing left. Maggie would just donate what was left in his house.

Downstairs Jessie was standing in the front entryway and Lucille perked up as Rick made it down. She licked at his ankles but Rick didn't pay her any mind.

"Rick!" Jessie greeted with a smile. "Negan said you aren't feeling too well?" She questioned as Rick came to stand next to Negan, the man fixing him with a disappointed gaze. Oh well, Rick had disappointed a lot of people in his time.

"No, I think I've got the flu unfortunately." He said easily and she gave him a sad frown.

"That sucks. You want me to make you some chicken soup? And I have a cold pad you could put on your forehead." She offered and Rick just smiled and shook his head. Food sounded absolutely awful right about now.

"I think I'll be fine, thank you though."

"Yeah, sorry we couldn't make it for lunch, but I should probably get him back in bed." Negan said and Jessie nodded, offering one last smile before closing the door. Negan turned his attention to Rick. "Didn't I tell you to stay in the fucking bed?"

Rick didn't answer, just dropped to his knees and started pulling at Negan's belt.

"Rick, stop this shit, just go lie down." Negan tried to reason and batted Rick's hands away.

Rick forced his hands back up to the belt and Negan sighed but kept his hands at his sides and leaned against the front door, glad that there were no windows in the entryway. Though with his luck, someone would come investigating as to why his door was rattling so much.

Finally, Negan's cock was free and in one motion, Rick had the entire thing in his mouth. Negan's eyes immediately widened, sure he wasn't entirely hard yet, but  _no one_ had ever been able to deep throat him before. His hand dropped to the back of Rick's head and he rested there.

It was just a moment until he was fully hard, Rick bobbing up and down like his life depended on it. One of his hands went down to fondle Negan's balls, and his other hand forced his pants down further and then dug his nails into the soft flesh. With every bob of his head Rick was basically fucking himself onto Negan's cock, feeling his throat contract around it, but still it wasn't enough.

He pulled off for just a second, "harder, please." Rick muttered before putting his mouth back on Negan's cock.

"You don't feel well."

Rick simply incoherently mumbled against Negan's cock, which caused vibrations that made Negan shiver with pleasure. "Does it look like I don't feel well?" Rick finally forced himself to take a break.

It only took Negan a moment to process that before he grabbed a handful of Rick's long hair and pulled the man roughly down on his cock. Negan didn't even stop to think of what Rick's limitations with this were, just kind of assumed he didn't have any, and then set a brutal pace. Saliva ran down Rick's chin and his eyes were watery from the constant assault. He gagged every time it went down his throat, but never made Negan stop and was never in real trouble of throwing up.

Rick felt a jolt run through him and he passively realized that he had cum without ever noticing that he was hard. A, thankfully brief, symptom of the withdrawal was a lack of libido or general feeling of pleasure. Cocaine had a short half-life though and Rick had only ever used small amounts at a time, so the withdrawal would be over in about a week, if he could get through all the fucking pain that came with it. Michonne had used to do coke as well and she told him that the first few days coming off of it were the worst part.

After a few more thrusts, Negan was cumming down Rick's throat. He couldn't even taste the semen as it was so far back, barely any of it got on his tongue.

Rick sat back on his heels after he was certain Negan was done and looked up at him, panting slightly.

"I suppose you are feeling better."

* * *

Later in the day, Rick had started to perk up a bit and mentioned that he desperately needed to go shopping or else he would have to start wearing Negan's clothes. They stopped for dinner across the street from the Nordstrom's where Rick had just spent upwards of 10,000$. Negan hadn't actually seen the total, but Rick hadn't left the high-end designer sections while they were in there, and he'd gotten at least five bags of clothing.

It was a little italian place that they had stopped in at, though Rick was still feeling nauseous. He just had a cup of water and a bowl of thin soup, but felt like he could barely keep that down.

"Maybe we should go to the doctor soon if you still can't eat any food tomorrow." Negan remarked and Rick quickly shook his head.

"I'd rather not. I'll be fine. Plus, doesn't your son get here soon?" Rick crossed one leg over the other and smoothed out the creases of a pair of new pants he'd just gotten. He'd stayed  _fairly_ tame with his shopping, nothing as avant-garde as he previously would have bought. He had thrown two skirts into his pile when Negan wasn't looking through, perhaps a surprise for later.

"Yeah, I have to pick him up from the airport tomorrow around five."

"Do you want me to clear out for a while? I don't want to interrupt your bonding time."

"How are you the humblest fucking brat I've ever met? Of course I don't want you to leave. You just quit your job for me, I think Carl's gonna have to get used to you." Negan scoffed and furrowed his brows at Rick.

"I think that's the first time I've ever been called humble." Rick laughed, which made his body ache more.

There was a brief moment of silence where they focused on eating instead of talking. The waiter came by and poured Negan more wine and refilled Rick's water, and the table behind them got up and left. It was very domestic, Rick didn't really feel like they  _needed_ to be talking.

"So what's your plan then? Are you going to get another job?" Negan asked finally, after taking a long, almost impolite, sip of wine.

Rick shrugged his shoulders gently. "I don't really have any skills, don't know what kind of job I could get. And I don't think I need one, I mean, that is if you're okay with me staying at your house and doing nothing."

"You could laze around my house and do nothing for the rest of your life if you wanted. I don't mind, I just figure you might get bored. You could always work at a coffee shop or something, that's what I did in high school."

He thought for a moment. Rick'd never had a real job before, one where he got a biweekly paycheck and was a registered employee. He strongly doubted that he could even do something like that, working a set amount of hours sounded terrible, and he got short with people very quickly. Maybe it would be good for him though, he could make some actual friends and then he could pay for food and stuff with that income instead of eating away at his savings. "I'd need your help. I don't have a resume or anything."

"There's a local place, maybe three blocks from the house, I doubt they would require any kind of experience. I can totally help you." Negan paused, as if thinking very intently about his next words. "What about finishing high school?"

Rick's answer was immediate: "No. I don't see the point."

Negan didn't push it.

"Rick!" Came a voice that made him immediately sit up straighter. He turned in his seat to see Simon and Philip, and another guy among their ranks: Gareth.

Simon rested a hand on Rick's shoulder and Negan shot his a concerned look. Rick imperceptibly shook his head at Negan, telling the man not to say anything. "Simon, always a pleasure to see you." He lied through his teeth, honey spilling out of his mouth.

"Oh no Rick,  _you_ are the pleasure." He said lasciviously and squeezed Rick's shoulder a bit too hard. Rick only continued to smile up at him.

He made brief, tense eye contact with Philip, but the man didn't say anything, just looked on at Rick. It seemed as though Philip hadn't told anyone yet, because Simon seemed perfectly casual with him, not on edge or anything.

Gareth came up behind Rick and put his hand on his other shoulder. Rick hated Gareth more than any of them combined, the man was a sadist, and though Rick had told him numerous times not to leave marks, he just founds ways to hurt him without leaving marks. Rick liked to be hurt during sex sure, but he almost never got off with Gareth. The man just beat him, got himself off, and then let Rick fuck off.

"Was hoping you'd have come to my party last night. I saw that outfit you wore a couple days ago, I wished you'd stayed longer so I could have gotten my hands on you." He said, it was quiet so that no other tables could hear him, but Rick could tell by the violent flash in Negan's eyes that he'd been able to hear.

"I need all my energy for a round with you, maybe next time." Rick flirted back and added a saucy wink. He felt sick.

"And who's this? New lucky client? Let me give you a fair warning,  _he_ doesn't come cheap." Simon joked, him and Gareth were the only ones who laughed.

Rick flashed a look to Negan, hoping that he would get his message to not tell them his real name. For all Rick knew, Philip already had a fucking file on Negan, but if not, Rick didn't want to drag him into this.

"Andrew Howard, financial adviser. And I believe  _I'm_ the one who doesn't come cheap." He shook hands with Simon who laughed at Negan's joke as well.

"You're in for a handful with this ones.  _How_ many pairs of red bottoms do you own? Six now?"

"Seven," Negan corrected as if he actually knew. "Believe me, if I wasn't a friend of Maggie's I don't think all the money in the world could make me sort out this financial mess." Rick's jaw actually dropped a little at Negan's flawless lie.

Gareth and Simon seemed to find him hilarious.

"I believe we best get on with our own meal." Philip finally said, stony faced and deadpan. Rick was thankful for that in a way, he didn't want this conversation to go on any longer.

"There's a rager going on at the Mercury tonight Rick, we've already promised a lot of people you would be there." Gareth said and Rick gave him a smile and a nod and then finally the men walked away.

Rick pulled three hundred dollars out of the wallet, set it on the table, and then told Negan that they were leaving immediately.

He didn't speak for the entire walk back to the car, Negan didn't ask him any questions.

When they got back in the car Rick turned the radio up earsplittingly loud, but Negan immediately turned it off.

"Was that the guy? Philip?" He questioned.

Rick nodded.

"I'm going to fucking kill him."

Rick didn't respond, just put his head against the window, and hoped that he could put this all behind him soon.


End file.
